Legend of the Heartless Angel
by Hakureisaiga
Summary: Cloud and Sephiroth clash and suddenly ends up in Narutoverse to be sealed inside of Naruto. 4 years later, Naruto meets them along with Kyuubi and is trained by all of them. Soon the Angel of Death will appear in Naruto Uzumaki. Challenge by Challenger
1. Birth of a Fallen Angel

_**Hakureisaiga- Another challenge by Challenger. I always wanted to do a FF7xNaruto crossover one of these days, but never got any ideas about it. See my profile to go on his page for the details. This is a NarutoxHarem fic**_

_**Naruto- Enjoy the story**_

"Take this, Sephiroth! Omnislash Version 5!!" A blond-haired man shouted as his gigantic cleaver glows in a holy gold color and flung it at the long silver-haired man who was floating in the air with a seven-foot-long katana in his hand.

This man had many names: The Heartless Angel, The One-Winged Angel. It all started with the calamity Jenova. Scientists discover her and took some of her cells, implanting them into individuals called SOLDIER. Sephiroth was the best 1st Class SOLDIER along with his friends Genesis Rhapsodos, Angeal Hewley and later on Zack Fair.

When Genesis turned rogue and Angeal died by his student Zack's hand, Sephiroth was sadden by the loss of his friends and confused of Genesis' cryptic words, soon in Nibelhelm, he found out that he was created with Jenova cells in his body when he was just a fetus. He soon began to hate Shinra and over time, he began to hate everything.

Sephiroth fought against Zack, his friend and was defeated by a 16-year-old blond Shinra trooper. That boy is the man that he is fighting today. His name is Cloud Strife, after his fight with Sephiroth, he was taken by Professor Hojo, a madman and had Jenova cells implanted in his body.

He fell into a coma due to mako poisoning and Zack was the one who broke him out, also having Jenova cells implanted inside of him. When he awakened, he found Zack with bullets in his body. Zack gave him his Buster Sword, which was once was his mentor Angeal's and Cloud's personality imprinted of Zack's. Soon he joined the group AVALANCHE and fought against Shinra with his friends.

Sephiroth, presumed dead, came back and used the black material, Meteor to destroy the planet. His closest friend, Aerith, who was once Zack's boyfriend cast the spell Holy to have the planet protect itself and her life was lost by Sephiroth. Cloud in the Lifestream killed Sephiroth's existence and Cloud become somber and dark, blaming himself for the deaths of Zack and Aerith.

Soon he, along with other men, women and children contracted a disease called Geostigma, which makes the immune system overcompensate, trying to fight it and secretes a black ooze. Cloud happened to experience hallucinations and seizures while the Geostigma acted up, soon three manifestations of Sephiroth representing his physical strength, his allure and calmness, his cruelty and insanity showed up, their names were Loz, Yazoo and Kadaj.

Kadaj, the leader absorbed his mother's cells, causing Sephiroth to be recreated. The battle between the two adversaries was coming to an end, but with a different ending. The hidden blades in the blond-haired man's sword flew out to surround Sephiroth and the blond began to fly around, grabbing each sword, cutting into Sephiroth's flesh.

As the blond-haired man grabbed the last sword, Sephiroth thought, _"No….it can't end like this….I will never be a memory. I will not lose, Cloud Strife." _Sephiroth's will allowed him to block the last strike and made a huge shockwave. That shockwave created a hole through time and space, making the two disappear from their world, only to appear in another one.

**Unnamed World-** A particular place was in chaos, on the day of October the tenth, a monster appeared. A demon named Kyuubi no Kitsune suddenly attacks one of the Five Great Villages, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, also known as Konohagakure.

This world was not technologically advanced, but it was compensated by the use of chakra. It was like the Lifestream only it was not ethereal at all, the people in this world practiced the way of the ninja much like Cloud's hyperactive friend Yuffie.

They practiced many arts such as ninjutsu, kinjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu and fuuinjutsu. "Don't let the fox take another step, we must hold out for the Yondaime to deal with it." Suddenly a giant toad appeared to face the Kyuubi with a blonde-haired figure with a tan cloak with orange flames on the bottom stood on top of the toad's head.

Beside him was a small child that has his features, the Yondaime looked at the boy, "I am sorry I have to place this burden on you, my son. I want you to survive, I have had a full life already and it is your turn to do the same. I love you very much, Naruto and just know that your mother and I will be watching you always.

The Yondaime turned to look at the beast and whispered, "I know that you are not in control of yourself, Kyuubi, but watch over my son please….consider it a last request.

The man flipped through hand signs, "**Shishio Fuuin!**"

Then he flipped through another set of hand signs, "**Hakke no Fuuin Shiki!**"

The Yondaime thought, _"Now for the last and very difficult part."_ He shouted, **"Shiki Fujin!!"**

Then the Shinigami appears behind the man and said, **"What the fuck? I was not supposed to get your soul until…"** He pulled out a clock for his sleeve and said, **"75 years, 18 days, 32 hours, 22 minutes and 15 seconds. What happened?"**

The man nodded to the Kyuubi and the Shinigami said, **"Damn it, I hate it when things don't go and plan. You are not even an evil soul at all either." **The man said, "I agree, Shinigami-sama, but I have no choice. Let's begin."

The Shinigami nodded and placed his arm inside of his stomach and the blond man shouted, "Gamabunta, go now!"

The toad complied and ran at the beast and stabbed it in its shoulder. The fox roared and retaliated by slashing at the toad, which caught the toad's eye with a scar. The Yondaime jumped onto the Kyuubi's head and The Shinigami with the help of the Yondaime Hokage extracted the beast's soul.

Suddenly a black hole opened above them and two figures came out. One of them had silver-long hair making the man almost feminine and a seven-foot-long katana and the other was a blond-haired man with blue glowing eyes dressed in black with a giant sword. The two fell in the middle of the sealing and were caught, sealing along with the beast.

"**My job is done."** Shinigami said sadly and the blond said, "Can you get those two men out?"

The Death god shook his head, **"Unfortunately that would free the beast and you don't have enough energy to redo the seal. I will not eat you, mortal…merely keep you in suspended animation until you are needed most."** The man nodded and the Shinigami took his soul and the blond close his eyes being at peace. Thus the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze, the Kiroi Senko died peacefully.

**Council Room-** "We should kill the boy to compensate for the lives of our lost ones." Fugaku Uchiha shouted. Most of the civilians on the council agreed with the Uchiha.

Tsume said, "No, that boy is not the Kyuubi, he is the savior of this village, damn it."

Inoichi said, "I agree with Tsume-san, the boy should be treated with respect and not discontent."

Danzo said, "We should use the Kyuubi's power and make him a weapon."

Hiashi said, "And make him a senseless weapon devoid of emotion to kill us…without any sense of right or wrong. We have seen how the Foundation acts and it could potentially make the boy kill us without any remorse."

The clan heads and civilians along with Danzo and the elders clashed against one another to decide the fate of young Naruto Uzumaki until one man decided to end it. "Enough!!!" an old man shouted.

That old man was the reinstated Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the God of Shinobi, the Professor. "We will not kill the boy and we will not make him into a senseless weapon. Instead of isolating the boy, we should treat him like he is, a human like you and I. I decree that the younger generation will not be told including Naruto about the Kyuubi or else that adult will be put to death publicly and his or her lands will be stripped from him including their clan status, is that clear? This is an S-Rank secret."

The civilians grumbled a bit, but reluctantly nodded to Sarutobi's demands. Fugaku seethed in anger as well as Danzo for not getting his weapon. So thus the life of Naruto Uzumaki began, but one of the civilians, a certain pink-haired bitch let it slip that the boy was the Kyuubi and for the first three years of Naruto's young life was hell for him.

Put in an orphanage, his life was in danger by poisonings, beatings, stabbings and stoning. Until the fourth year, Naruto was currently being chased by a mob on his birthday, but that was also the day that his life would change forever.

"No! Leave me alone, don't hurt me." Naruto shouted at the mob that menacingly came on him.

The mob sneered as they pulled out pitchforks, kitchen knives, metal rods and staves to hit him with. One of the man came up behind the boy and held him tightly for the villagers to hit him one by one.

Naruto screamed in pain as the blows rained down on him until a blow came to his head, rendering him unconscious.

**Mindscape-** Naruto groggily opened his eyes to see that he was no longer in the alley, but a place that resembled a place with broken buildings and mortar.

"_Hello…anybody here? Oji-san, where are you? Ayame-nee-san? Teuchi-oji-san?"_ the timid boy asked. The boy heard sniffling and he followed the sound to find a cage. Inside there was a 15-year-old girl that had flaming red hair and an orange kimono.

Naruto approached the cage and asked, _"Why are you crying?_

" The girl looked up with her crimson slitted eyes that were puffy, **"B-Because I caused you so much pain."** She sobbed.

Naruto looked confused, _"Huh? But you look too pretty to do anything bad."_

The girl replied, **"I wasn't in c-control of m-myself. An e-evil person h-hypnotized me and made m-me attack. Now I-I'm stuck inside you and p-people believe that you a-are m-me." **

Naruto said, _"Who are you?"_

The girl sniffed, **"I am the K-Kyuubi no K-Kitsune."**

Naruto said, _"B-But you are s-supposed to be d-dead."_ The girl shook her head**, "No, the Yondaime had no way of releasing me f-from my h-hypnosis, so he h-had to s-seal you into m-me. I-I'm so s-sorry."**

The boy tensed up as another voice heard, **"You are just like me."**

The boy turned to see a silver-haired man with green cat-like slitted eyes carrying a seven-foot-long katana. _"Who are you?_

" Naruto asked, feeling the power radiating off of him. **"I'm Sephiroth, I happened to be sealed inside of you along with another person when the Yondaime was in the process. I have seen your life through your eyes….you are just like me. We are both misunderstood of our gifts….our strength. I will train you to learn to be calm and collected in battle. You will be able to think on your feet, think ahead three steps before your opponent strikes. Do you want that power?" **

Naruto said, _"Yes, I want to be able to protect myself."_

Sephiroth said, **"And you shall….Cloud, come and meet the boy."**

Suddenly a blond-haired man with blue eyes dressed in black with a huge sword strapped to his back. **"It is nice to meet you, my name is Cloud Strife and I will teach you to wield my sword, First Tsurugi along with the six parts that can be wielded as swords. I have watched your life too and I see that you were helpless to defend yourself. You will learn to exact justice and defend your friends as well as yourself from enemies. Understood?"**

Cloud thought, _**"And I can't allow you to turn completely like Sephiroth, Naruto or else you will become insane." **_

Naruto nodded in awe at the two SOLIDERS." Naruto smiled, but then his eyes start to itch and burn a bit, he began to rub them until he looked back at them for Cloud to gasp and Sephiroth to raise an eyebrow.

"**It seems that we have influenced his genetic structure by being sealed in him." **Sephiroth said in monotone.

Naruto said, _"Huh?"_

Cloud said, **"Basically your eyes have changed…..you see, we have a certain energy called Mako. It is infused into our bodies along with Jenova cells."**

Sephiroth said, **"Jenova is my mother, but I was given birth by a woman named Lucrecia."**

Cloud said, **"Due to the cells and mako inside you, you have more stamina and cognitive ability than normal people. The mako along with the Jenova cells affects the eyes and tries to change you into a potential Sephiroth, so your eyes will be a mix of blue and green, your iris will be slitted like a cat and glowing."**

Naruto said, _"So my body acts like Sephiroth-sensei, but my mind is still me, right?"_

The two nodded and Sephiroth said, **"And there is one other thing….the Jenova cells have a tendency to give out wings."**

Naruto said, _"Huh?"_

Then a pain shot through his back and he dropped down, gritting his teeth as a black wing popped out on his left side of his back, but to Sephiroth's and Cloud's surprise, another wing- a white wing shot out of his right side of his back. "Well…that is interesting." Sephiroth said.

Naruto turned to look at Kyuubi, who was still sniffling and the boy went inside the cage and bent down to wipe her tears away.

Kyuubi said, **"W-What?"**

Naruto smiled, _"My nee-san said that pretty ladies should never cry. I don't blame you at all, you were not in control of yourself and if it weren't for you being sealed, then I would not be trained by these two guys. So I should really be thanking you."_

Kyuubi said, **"B-But I-I..."**

Naruto said, _"My family could be still alive, but even if they are dead, I know that they love me no matter what happens."_

Kyuubi smiled through her tears and whispered, **"Thank you, Naruto-kun. I will help you train and become Hokage. You will be learning to track, deception, and cunning to your enemies. I don't want a weak jailor and I….don't want you to die either."**

Naruto nodded and Kyuubi said, **"It is time for you to wake up. You are now in the hospital and the old Hokage is worried sick about you."**

Naruto nodded and Sephiroth said, **"We start tomorrow." **

Naruto faded back from his mind to wake up.

**Naruto- **The 4-year-old woke up to find out that the old man Hokage was sitting by his bed with a worried look on his face.

"Naruto….are you alright?" the Hokage asked.

Naruto looked around and asked, "Where am I?"

Sarutobi said, "You are in the hospital, we found you unconscious and we apprehended the ones who did this to you."

Naruto turned to him, "I don't like hospitals."

Sarutobi said, "I know."

Naruto said, "Oji-san, why didn't you tell me that the Kyuubi was sealed inside me?"

Sarutobi stiffened, "How did you find out this, Naruto?"

Naruto said, "When I fell unconscious, I drifted into my mind and found out that the Kyuubi was sealed inside of me."

Sarutobi sighed, "You were not supposed to know about its presence until you were older or a genin. How do you feel about it?"

Naruto said, "I don't know what to feel….I can use her chakra to defend myself, but my family is dead because of her inability at that time."

Sarutobi said, "Wait…it's a she? And what inability?"

Naruto explained, "Oji-san, wasn't it weird that the Kyuubi would suddenly just show up and attack Konoha?"

Sarutobi said, "Yes, that is weird."

Naruto said, "Do you know about anybody who has the ability to control demons?"

Hiruzen thought about it for a second and said, "Yes, my mentor Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage, happened to have the ability to control the Bijuu with his bloodline."

Naruto closed his eyes for a moment, "The Kyuubi said that the person who controlled her had red eyes with three tomoe marks around the iris, but it soon morphed into a eye with three bars and the three tomoe were hollow and merged together. Sound familiar?"

Sarutobi said, "The Uchiha clan. According to my mentor's stories of his battles, there has been only one person who has the Sharingan and the ability to summon the Nine Tails…..Uchiha Madara, but if that is true, he should be dead."

Naruto said, "Maybe he somehow gained a way to become immortal or something."

Sarutobi thought, _"That is possible, Orochimaru was trying to do the same thing."_ The Sandaime said, "Then he must be the one who brought the Kyuubi here, he loathed Hashirama and challenged him to a battle, he lost and it was believed that he died."

Naruto gripped his sheets, "I have decided, oji-san, I decided to become a ninja. So….he is the one who caused all of this, if he is indeed immortal…..I will definitely kill him."

Sarutobi said, "Are you sure you want to run down this path?"

Naruto said with conviction, "I will kill him, Sarutobi-oji-san, him and every aspect of him." Sarutobi said, "Fine, then, it will take some time but I believe I can get you in the Academy to be taught."

And thus the legend of Naruto Namikaze Uzumaki, the Angel of Death was born.

**8 years later-** Naruto Uzumaki always sat in class next to Hinata Hyuga. Over the years, he began to resent the Uchiha clan all except one person, Itachi Uchiha. Itachi was the only one who Naruto respected and admired, when he heard that the Uchiha clan had been wiped out, he smiled knowing that his most oppressors were gone and the only Uchiha was his little brother, Sasuke….which he considered that he was no threat to him.

Training from Ayane, the Kyuubi, Sephiroth and Cloud, he learned how to control his Mako energy and mix it with his chakra along with controlling her own chakra. He soon adopted Cloud's personality when he was among friends like Hinata, Shikamaru, Choji, Shino, but he also inherited Sephiroth's personality when he was thinking about the Uchiha clan, fighting or very pissed off.

He hid his skills and pretended to be a loud, hyperactive ninja that liked Sakura Haruno and attention described by Cloud since he knew one from experience. He had seals on his hands to get Sephiroth's Masamune and Cloud's First Tsurugi with his Fusion Swords on a quick draw.

He purposely failed the exam three times to see who his allies were and who his enemies were. He was wearing a hideous orange jumpsuit to help with the act. Today was the last day he would act like that.

**Naruto- **The boy awoke and ate breakfast before going into his closet. He saw the hideous orange jumpsuit and hung in on the wall along with his old goggles. He took his clothes _**(Cloud's FFVII Advent Children outfit only he has sleeves on both arms) **_and put them on as well as the straps for the Fusion Swords. He looked in the mirror to look back at himself with his cold slitted blue-green eyes. He clenched his gloved hands _**(The gloves' palms are cut to reveal the seals and his thumbs are exposed)**_

"It begins." He said.

He moved out the door to go to sit at the Academy.

**Academy- **"Okay, Kiba Inuzaka." Iruka said.

"Here" Kiba said.

Iruka checked him off, "Hinata Hyuga?"

A shy voice said, "H-Here"

Iruka called out, "Naruto Uzumaki." A cold voice that chilled him and Mizuki to the bone said, "Here" Everyone turned to see Naruto in his new outfit, sitting quietly next to Hinata. Some of the girls blushed at the new, serious Naruto.

"_So…you finally ditched the mask, huh, Naruto?" _Iruka thought.

The chunin said, "Glad to see you here, Naruto."

Naruto caught the message and said, "It is good to be here….I can finally relax a bit now that I will become a ninja."

Kiba said, "I doubt it."

Naruto said, "I would prefer it if you can keep your comments to yourself, Inuzaka or I will rip out your tongue." Kiba looked at his cold blue-green eyes and shuddered at the truth in his eyes.

Everyone was shocked at Naruto's choice of words…the blond that they knew was different than the one before him. He had a calm and commanding aura around him, but also hostile to others who tend to piss him off.

"Okay, now we will begin the test….when your name is called, please proceed to the testing area. The jutsu performed to pass is the Bunshin no Jutsu." Iruka said.

Mizuki looked at Naruto, who caught his eye and gave him a cold stare. Mizuki shuddered as the glare intensified, promising pain for reasons unknown.

"Okay, let's begin." Iruka said, not noticing the exchange.

**Naruto-** Naruto came out with a headband and tore off the cloth to sow it on his belt. The people looked at him cruelly, but to their surprise and hidden fear, Naruto gave them a stare equal to them.

"N-Naruto-kun?" a voice said.

Naruto turned to see Hinata, "Yes, Hinata?"

Hinata said, pressing her fingers together, "I-I just w-wanted to s-say c-congratulation on passing t-the exam."

Naruto looked at her for a moment, checking her body language and intent and gave her a soft smile, "Thanks, Hinata. It was nice of you to do that, I extend the same to you."

Hinata said, "T-Thank you."

Naruto asked, "Would you care to join me for ramen today to celebrate or do you have other plans?"

Hinata said quickly, "No….I mean, I-I don't have any o-other plans."

Naruto said, "That is excellent, well, then shall we?"

Hinata and Naruto walked together to Ichiraku Ramen only to be blocked by a few villagers. "Is there a problem, gentleman?" Naruto asked.

The leader said, "Yeah, you are not fit to walk with the Hyuga heiress. Get away from her now and go back to where you belong."

Naruto replied coolly, "This is where I belong and she seems to enjoy my company, now I must ask that you please move or I will be forced to subdue you."

The man sneered, "You hear that, fellas? He is going to subdue me. Ha, as if!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Is that a fact?"

The man stepped closer and said, "Get away from the heiress, you….."

Naruto said, "Are you sure you want to finish that sentence? Choose your words carefully or you will be executed by the Hokage himself."

The man launched a fist at Naruto, but he caught it and knocked him away, making the man flips into a place filled with garbage. Then the rest of them surrounded him and charged at him, Naruto dropped low and sweep kicked them off their feet, then he moved into a handstand while spinning to catch them all and fling them in the same alley

. Naruto jumped upright and dusted his hands, "Heh, I took out the trash already….that is all my chores. Now let's go, Hinata."

Hinata said, "A-Amazing."

Naruto said, "Huh?"

Hinata said, "W-When you l-learned to m-move like t-that? You have n-never done t-that when y-you were s-sparring."

Naruto said, "I had great teachers."

Inside his head, Cloud smiles, Sephiroth smirked and Ayane aka Kyuubi shouted, **"Damn straight!!"**

The two approached the ramen shop and sat down, Ayame turned and greeted Naruto, "Oh, hello, Naruto. Who is this? Your girlfriend?" the waitress asked.

Naruto said, "No, she is just a friend…but I don't know the future though."

Hinata blushed as she thought, _"That is almost a confession that he likes me."_

Ayame said, "So are you going to have the special?"

Naruto said, "Why not? I have the privilege to indulge myself since I have passed my exam. What do you want, Hinata?"

Hinata stuttered, "I will have a m-miso ramen."

Ayame called out, "Tou-san, one special and one miso ramen. "

Teuchi called back, "On it."

Ayame turned back to Naruto, "So that is a nice outfit that you had there, when did you get it?"

Naruto said, "I had it designed a long time ago and had special seals put on it by Hokage-jii-san to make the clothes grow with me. Oh, by the way, Hinata….thank you for the jumpsuit and goggles."

Hinata said, "Y-You k-knew?"

Naruto nodded, "I knew all the time, I was trained to sense certain signatures and since everyone has their own unique signature, I know exactly who it is. I have noticed that you have been watching me too, Hinata."

Hinata blushed deeply as she had been caught red-handed.

"To tell your truth, I never found myself to be that inspiring to anybody especially with my mask gone." Naruto continued, "You have been the kindest person I have ever met, Hinata and I extend my gratitude towards you."

Teuchi said, "Ah, Naruto, and who is this? I didn't know that you were a ladies' man."

Naruto said, "Teuchi-oji-san, Hinata is my friend, I don't think of her like that now, but maybe over time I will."

Hinata inwardly cheered, _"Yay, I still might have a chance."_

Naruto and Hinata grabbed their chopsticks and said, "Itadakimasu!"

Naruto ate his food in a polite and professional manner, "So Hinata, how is your training going?"

Hinata said sadly, "U-Umm, I-I am j-just trying as h-hard as I c-can to i-improve, N-Naruto-kun."

Naruto looked at her, "In other words, you are trying hard, but end up giving up, right?"

Hinata stirred her noodles with her chopsticks and Naruto said, "You need more confidence, so I am going to help you with this."

Hinata looked up and said, "W-What?"

Naruto said, "I am going to help you, Hinata. I had to learn a person's moves and gestures including body language. In fact I had it beaten into my head repeatedly, judging by that statement I said earlier, you flinched a bit and looked a bit downtrodden. Your flinching was caused by remembering physical pain and the Hyuga clan taijutsu tend to hurt a lot plus your sad expression tells me that someone close to you believes that you are weak….someone has been belittling you, haven't they?"

Hinata didn't speak a word and Naruto said, "I apologize if I have made you uncomfortable."

Hinata spoke up, "N-No, I…y-you are r-right. I have been t-trying my b-best, but my f-father yells a-at me, trying t-to push m-me harder….I always end u-up g-giving up i-in the e-end."

Naruto said, "A wise man said to me once when I couldn't get down the Bunshin no Jutsu down, he said, 'Never give up, embrace your dreams and protect your honor.' My honor lies with my friends that I cherish most. Ayame-nee-chan, Teuchi-oji-san, Hokage-oji-san, Shikamaru, Choji, Shino and most of all, you, Hinata. I will help you train."

Hinata blushed and said, "T-Thank y-you, N-Naruto-kun."

Naruto smiled, "You are most welcome, now if you will excuse me, there is something that I must do." Naruto got up and paid for both of their meals before he left.

**Forest-** Mizuki was running through the forest, clutching the Scroll of Sealing. "Hehehe, perfect, soon I will be with my master." He thought, "I can't believe that was that easy." Suddenly the traitorous chunin looked up to see a person dressed in black before him.

"Hello, Mizuki." Naruto said.

Mizuki said, "So, demon, how did you know that I was going to steal this?"

Naruto said, "You were too obvious, Mizuki, you always have a sickeningly look in your eyes when you are about to do something bad or vengeful."

Mizuki said, "Well, maybe that is because you are a demon…you are the Nine Tails."

Naruto said, "Is that a fact? I consider myself to be an angel…." A black wing popped out of his back, "A fallen angel that is."

Mizuki unclipped the giant shuriken on his back and flung it at Naruto, "Then die, angel."

Naruto simply had Masamune appeared in his left hand and cut the shuriken in two, then there was a flash of light and Mizuki fell to the ground in pieces.

Naruto picked up the scroll and looked up at the sky, staring at something. "I know you are watching, Sarutobi-jii-san."

**Hokage's Office-** _"How did he do that? The Crystal Ball Jutsu should not be detected at all and where did he get that sword?"_ Sarutobi thought.

_**Hakureisaiga- It seems that our hero had destroyed his mask of happiness and shows his true face. Tune in next time as the next chapter of the Legend of the Heartless Angel**_


	2. Naruto's True Strength

_**Hakureisaiga- Damn, I just post it up one day and I have 16 reviews already….jeez, that is good. I will continue this story and try to update it as fast as possible.**_

_**Namikaze09- I don't know….it comes naturally to me with the events in the manga and how I want it to go.**_

_**Challenger- Again, thanks for sending me the idea**_

_**Stc-dragon- Thanks for the comment**_

_**Alexa-catta123- Thanks and yes, the Shinigami will bring back Minato when he is needed the most**_

_**Neuanfang- Yes, it is.**_

_**RoyalTwinFang- Thanks, but all credit goes to Challenger for the wings idea…..I just came up with the representation.**_

_**Jfitzgerald- Thanks for the comment**_

_**VFSNAKE- Thanks for the comment**_

_**Vanpire- Glad that you think so**_

_**Crazymexican- This will be a MASSIVE Harem fic…**_

_**God of all- Thanks**_

_**Wandering Gunslinger- Thanks for the comments**_

_**Is this even proper English?- Thanks, whoever you are**_

_**Gravity the Wizard- Thanks**_

_**Darkvizardking69- Really? As a zanpakutou? Never seen it but okay and I have to figure out how to get Beowulf in the fight….Naruto doesn't have him yet, but I cook something up.**_

_**Hakureisaiga- Remember to vote on my poll, it will end Friday and read Old Memories, New Friends and review it….so far I have reviews all from the same person.**_

"Okay, time to tell you your team match-ups." Iruka said, "Let's see…Team 7, Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke." Sakura cheered for being on Sasuke's team and half of the class expected Naruto to jump and shout for joy, but got a rude awakening.

"So…I got a weak fangirl that wants the Uchiha's reproductive organ and an avenger that might swing the other way that broods while saying only one non-word every day….this will be interesting." The boy said.

The fangirls perked up at the gay comment and came on to Naruto, who sat calmly next to Hinata.

"Hinata, you might want to move for a moment." He said.

Hinata moved away from her seat and the angry Uchiha fangirls pounced on Naruto to punch him with their enormous strength that nobody seems to know where it comes from since most of the girls diet a lot. When they finished, they smiled smugly to see Naruto's body…or was it.

The fangirls' smiles faded as Sasuke groaned on the floor. A whistle was heard and Naruto was sitting in Sasuke's seat. "Kawarimi, the savior of every ninja's life and guys that insult the Uchiha's sexual status." Naruto said as he read his book titled LOVELESS.

The fangirls were about to attack him again, but the Jinchuuriki said, "Are you sure that you want to do that? I could accidently Kawarimi with the Uchiha again." The fangirls' brains started to kick it as they heard their favorite word of the day, which was every day and went back, grumbling while Naruto got back to his seat while a limping Sasuke glared at Naruto.

"Naruto…no Kawarimi with students….even though it was funny. Now without any more interruptions, Team 8, Hyuga Hinata, Inuzaka Kiba and Aburame Shino. Team 10, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji and Yamanaka Ino." Iruka continued.

The chunin listed the teams and told them that they would have a break and meet each other back in the classroom to meet their senseis.

**Secluded Place-** Naruto walked behind the Academy building and went into a man-sized hole to reach a clearing with a lake and a rushing waterfall. Naruto stretched out his right hand and First Tsurugi along with the Fusion Swords already in place.

He held it in front of him and began to practice his moves…the first move that Naruto had been taught….the original version of Omnislash. As he slashed the air with the cleaver with ease, he felt at ease with himself, then he unhinged the last part of the sword and practiced some of the combos with his eyes close, remembering one of Sephiroth's lessons.

"_**A sword is not a weapon, it is a part of you, an extension of yourself. Feel, communicate with it and you must let it guide you to your opponent."**_ Sephiroth's voice whispered in his ear.

Naruto flipped and slashed at the air until he stopped at the end of the kata and resealed the cleaver into his right hand.

"You know, you are the only one who can find me besides Iruka-sensei, huh, Hinata?" Naruto said.

Hinata came out as Naruto continued, "You are always looking out for me."

Hinata said, "Why do you like secluding yourself from us?"

Naruto said, "I don't….I prefer the term avoiding, I guess I am still a little insecure with me unmasking myself."

Hinata said, "You will be fine, Naruto. I am sure that they will accept you no matter what."

Naruto said, "And if they don't….what will happen then?" Hinata said, "Then they would miss out on a great friend."

Naruto smiled, "Thanks, Hinata, that made me feel a bit better."

Hinata said, "You're welcome."

Naruto said, "You realized that you have not stuttered at all when you were talking to me."

Hinata blushed, "I-I d-did…"

Naruto said, "Crap, we were so close too. Oh well, we just have to try a little bit harder."

Hinata said, "R-Right!" Naruto said, "Anyway we better go back before Iruka-sensei thinks we got kidnapped." Hinata nodded with a light blush on her face and they walked together in the man-sized hole.

**Academy-** Naruto sat down, tapping his fingers on the desk while waiting for his teacher to show up. Sakura shouted, "Naruto, stop that! You are bothering Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto deadpanned, "And your bitching isn't getting on his nerves?"

The Jinchuuriki continued tapping his fingers. Then Sakura tried to punch him, but Naruto in a split second noticed his teacher was coming and Kawarimi with him. Sakura's fist met Kakashi's face and Kakashi flew backwards into the wall hard.

Sakura gasped with her hands to her mouth and began to apologize to her sensei.

Kakashi rubbed his jaw, "Damn, you have a mean left hook…but I have to say that my first impression of you all….I hate you all. Meet me on the roof in five minutes."

Kakashi poofed out of existence while Sakura turned to Naruto to berate him for making her punch her sensei, but he was already out the door after Kakashi.

**Roof-** Kakashi said, "Okay, first we will introduce ourselves."

Sakura said, "How are we supposed to do that?"

The Hatake replied, "Like tell me your hobbies, likes, dislikes, that sort of stuff."

Sakura said, "How about you start us off? You look suspicious."

Kakashi said, "My name is Kakashi Hatake, my likes are none of your concern, my dislikes are a lot, my hobbies….I have lots of hobbies and my dream is none of your business."

Naruto stated in monotone, "Kakashi Hatake, son of the White Fang, Sakumo Hatake. He likes Icha Icha Paradise, a porn book with a plot to it, training, his sensei and old team, his dislikes are traitors, Iwa and Kumo to a certain extent, his hobbies are reading Icha Icha or resting in his leisure time. His dream is to help us be the greatest team ever and collect all of the Icha Icha Paradise known over the Five Great Countries. Nicknames: Copy Ninja Kakashi, Sharingan no Kakashi. The origin of the nicknames were where he had the eye implanted by a request of a dear friend named Obito Uchiha, who was also his teammate along with Rin Inuzaka and Minato Namikaze. He is known to have 1000 jutsu under his belt."

Kakashi looked at Naruto curiously as did his teammates.

Naruto said, "Bingo book and I did actually paid attention in history class about the Third Great Shinobi War. After all, my father did happen to fight in that war."

Kakashi's lone eye widened, _"No way, he knows about Minato-sensei?!?"_

Sasuke said, "Dobe, you are an orphan…you had no parents that were ninja."

Naruto said, "Is that a fact, Uchiha? Do you have proof of this lie as you called it?"

Sasuke shot back, "No…but you don't either."

Naruto said, "Actually I do….Sensei here used to work with him a long time ago, right?"

Kakashi said, "It is true, Sasuke, Naruto's father was an incredible ninja and I once worked with him. He died honorably protecting the village from the Kyuubi attack. So then, Sakura, you start first."

Sakura said, "I'm Sakura Haruno, my likes are….., my dislikes are Ino-pig and Naruto-baka, my hobbies are…., my dream is……squeal."

Kakashi sweat dropped, _"Just my luck, a fangirl."_

Naruto said, "Hmph, if Ino is a pig, then what are you? An insect?"

Sakura said, "I am a beautiful flower."

Naruto said, "Someone lied to you to make you feel better. Flowers don't have big foreheads."

Sakura flinched at Naruto's words and remember the teasing from the girls, but there was a faint person that appeared in front of her telling them to stop teasing her. It was Sasuke, but it flickered between Naruto and her crush for some reason. _**(A/N: INDICATION!!!)**_

Kakashi said, "Next."

Sasuke said, "Sasuke Uchiha, I have little likes and many dislikes, I don't have any hobbies than training and I don't have a dream, more like an ambition….I need to kill a certain person to avenge my clan."

Kakashi thought, _"Typical, Sasuke has become an avenger."_

He turned to Naruto and Naruto said in monotone, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, my likes are my father, my mother, Ayane-chan, Sephiroth, Cloud, Hinata, my friends, ramen, the Ichiraku family, Hokage-oji-san, training and Itachi-niisan."

Sasuke's eyes became angry at Naruto for calling the murderer of the Uchiha clan a brother figure to Naruto, but the Jinchuuriki ignored him, "My dislikes are traitors, murderers, people who use anything in their grasp for power, cowards, people who don't cherish their friends, fangirls, the Sharingan and some of the villagers. My hobbies are training, helping out Hinata, walking in the forest, meditation and learning facts about my father from Hokage-oji-san. My dream is to live my life and to become the strongest, also to kill a certain Uchiha who was the cause of my Hell…no, Uchiha, it is not your brother, Itachi…he is actually the only one in your clan that I respect."

Sasuke said, "How can you respect him, he was the one who murdered my clan."

Naruto said, "That is none of your concern…the fact is that Itachi in my opinion did a good thing wiping out the arrogance there."

Kakashi said, "Anyway now that we are introduced, I wanted to tell you that you are not officially Genin."

Sakura looked at him, "But we passed the exam…"

Kakashi said, "To test your knowledge, this is to test your skills and this test….happens to have a 66.6% failure rate."

Sakura and Sasuke had visible looks of concern while Naruto's face was impassive. "Meet up at seven in the morning at training area 3 and don't eat or you will throw up."

Kakashi left them on the roof and Naruto moved to go home, but Sasuke said, "Hey, dobe, we are not finished."

Naruto said, "What, Uchiha? Make it quick, I need to see the Hokage and I have no time for your petty sibling rivalry with your brother."

Sasuke growled, "Itachi was the one who killed my entire clan and you say that it was a good thing."

Naruto said, "Correct, so what of it?"

Sasuke said, "You asshole!"

Naruto said, "No, your family is the assholes. What kind of person would use a 3-year-old kid for target practice?" Naruto removed his gloves to show that the back of his hands and Sasuke saw that there was an Uchiha sign branded on his hand.

"Itachi was the one who saved me from being a pincushion and I had admired his strength…he understood the uses of the Sharingan and used rarely until he was in a pinch while the rest of your so-called clan were the ones who used the Sharingan first and became arrogant that they died when they didn't anticipate the situation." Naruto put back on his gloves as he walked off, "When we go against Kakashi, make sure that you don't get in my way."

**Hokage's Office-** Sarutobi and Naruto were having a conversation about yesterday's events. "Naruto, where did you get that sword?" Sarutobi said, "I have never seen you use it before."

Naruto said, "I found in a clearing near the abandoned estate, it was just sitting there in the ground…so I took it and found a book about seals. I learned to make a seal to make it appear in my hand by channeling chakra into the seal to make it appear in my hand instantly. I had to steal a book on kenjutsu to help me learn how to wield it properly."

Sarutobi stared at Naruto instantly, but luckily Naruto was so good with masks and Ayane was the one who taught him to develop a poker face, playing poker with the boy when he was nine years old.

Sarutobi said, "Fine, then Naruto….but how did you know about your father?"

Naruto said, "It was obvious…there are only two known blond families in Konoha, the Yamanaka clan and Minato Namikaze. If you hold up a mirror beside my face and look at his picture, you can see that I look like him. Also I highly doubt that the Yondaime Hokage would seal the Kyuubi in anybody that he didn't trust. Who better to trust than your own son?"

Sarutobi said, "You are smart, Naruto…why didn't you show your intelligence?"

Naruto said, "Oji-san, if you were a teacher and hated me, what would you do?"

Sarutobi answered, "I would do everything within my rights to stop you from learning anything…oh."

Naruto said, "Exactly, if I showed any signs of intelligence, I would have gotten annoyances from the teachers, so I played the fool and pretended to be a dunce that liked Sakura and constantly wanted attention by doing pranks, which helped the clans in the long run to step up the security."

Sarutobi was surprised at Naruto's elaborate plan and façade that had fooled everyone including him.

"Now is that all, Sarutobi-jii-san?" The Jinchuuriki asked.

Sarutobi said, "Yes, but Naruto…try to not antagonize Sasuke. Even though you respect Itachi for saving you from his family, Sasuke hates him for killing his family members."

Naruto said, "I will try, but I am not sorry for what I said. It is ironic, much of Konoha's pain and misery is centered around the ones that they worship like they are gods."

Sarutobi said, "But you don't even know where Madara is."

Naruto answered back, "I don't need to…knowing Madara, he would want to have his 'pet' back to him, so he will come for me and then I will strike against him."

Next day, Naruto arrived at the training area 3 at nine, knowing that Kakashi had a chronic tardiness that he developed from his friend Obito. It reminded him of Cloud and his friend Zack, they were both alike in some ways and ironically, Kakashi and Cloud had received some of their traits after they died. They both in a sense began to live both of their friends' lives.

Sakura screamed, "You're late…"

Naruto said, "No, Kakashi-sensei is not here, therefore I am not counted as late, Haruno-san."

Then Kakashi said, "Yo!"

Sakura shouted, "YOU'RE LATE!!!" Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry, I got lost on the road of life."

Naruto said, "Well, I can't blame you, the road to life has many twists and turns on your way."

Kakashi smirked, "Finally someone who understands…" He took out an alarm clock and set it on the stump, "Okay, here are the rules… your objective is to take these bells from me."

Sakura said, "But sensei, there are only two bells."

Kakashi said, "Correct, it means that two of you will stay here with me and the one without a bell will be tied to the stump while I eat a bento in front of you."

Sakura and Sasuke's stomach growled while Naruto shook his head in amazement, _"I can't believe that they actually listen to him…and they still think that I am a dobe."_

Cloud said, "**It just goes to show who the real idiots are."**

Sephiroth said, **"Indeed."**

Kakashi said, "You can use taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu or whatever you want to use….even weapons against me."

Sakura said, "But sensei, won't you get hurt?"

Naruto thought, _"You have got to be kidding me?"_

Kakashi said, "Um, Sakura, I am not a Jonin or called Sharingan no Kakashi for nothing. Now when I say go, we will begin the test. Ready? GO!"

Sasuke and Sakura sprang back into the tree while Naruto sprang forward with Masamune in his hand to stab at Kakashi. Kakashi moved to avoid being impaled by Naruto's sword.

"What the…" Kakashi said, "Where the hell did you get that sword? No, matter of fact, how the hell were you able to hide that sword?"

Naruto said, "It is best not to ask questions when you are in a battle."

He launched himself at Kakashi, who took out a kunai to defend himself. Naruto attacked in fluid motions and speed, causing Kakashi to be at a distance while protecting himself from the attacks. _"He was never this fast in the Academy….was he hiding his true potential?"_

Suddenly Naruto backed off and sent a Blade Beam at Kakashi, who dove to the side as the beam passed him and destroyed a multitude of trees. Kakashi looked in shock behind at the destruction until he felt Naruto's presence near him and Naruto slashed at his mid-section, Kakashi back flipped to avoid being sliced in half and moved into a defensive stance to see that the Jinchuuriki's sword had disappeared and he was picking up something in his hand.

Kakashi heard a jingle and felt his waist to see that the bells were gone and in Naruto's hand. Naruto said in monotone, "You two can come out now."

Sasuke and Sakura came out of their hiding spots to walk beside Naruto. Sakura was in shock that Naruto had actually got the bells without any help and Sasuke was in shock and a little envious of Naruto's strength.

"How did you…." Kakashi began, but Naruto interrupted, "In that last strike I gave you, I knew that you would avoid it by back flipping to the side or backwards, so I made you dodge to get the objective."

Kakashi said, "You got the two bells, so which one will you choose to take with you?"

Naruto said, "Neither."

Kakashi said, "What?"

Sasuke and Sakura shouted, "What?"

Naruto said, "Let me explain, in all the years of Genin teams, there has not been a two-man squad ever at all. There have only been apprenticeships and three-man squads. Thus this means that Kakashi wanted us to do something…if I was the dunce that you all thought I was, we would have to work together to get the bells from Kakashi since in reality, a team that has good teamwork together can overcome even the greatest of ninjas, therefore the bells were made to cause dissention within our ranks to make us lose sight of the primary objective. So…"

He tossed the bells to Sasuke and Sakura, "I choose them over me…although I am strong as I am, I would not mind torturing Iruka-sensei with my pranks."

Kakashi said, "In that case…you all passed."

Sakura said, "When did you get so smart, Naruto?"

Naruto said, "I didn't get smart, Haruno…I have been smart. The idiot, the pranks, the attention, the crush on you….it was all an act to hide my true strength."

Then he walked away as he finished, "And now that I am a ninja….I don't have to hide my true self anymore….from anybody."

Kakashi said, "Meet us at the Hokage building for our first mission at seven, Naruto."

Naruto waved his hand, acknowledging Kakashi's shout.

**Hokage Building-** Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at all of the Jonin that were present and potential senseis. "Okay and now the results of your teams." The Hokage said.

Gekko Hayate stepped forward, "Team 1 failed."

Genma Shiranui said, "Team 2 also failed."

Aoba Yamashiro said, "Team 3 failed!"

Ibiki Morino said, "Team 4 failed."

Anko Mitarashi said, "Team 5 failed."

Raido Namiashi said, "Team 6 failed."

Kakashi stepped forward, "Team 7 passed." The Jonin in the room gasped at Kakashi….so far he had failed every single team he had gotten and it was a surprise to them that the Kakashi had finally passed a team.

The Hokage said, "Well, Kakashi, how was the test?"

Kakashi answered, "It was a shock….I didn't even get time to evaluate his teammates' skills because of his abilities."

The Hokage said, "Let me guess….Uzumaki Naruto, huh?"

Kakashi said, "Correct, Hokage-sama. It seems that he hid his true abilities that fool all of us, tricking us to thinking that he was some idiot, but he figured out the true test and got them single-handed without any help."

A random Jonin said, "Kakashi, surely you are lying, there is no way that the brat could be that strong."

Kakashi looked at Sarutobi, who made a giant version of the Crystal Ball Jutsu the size of a 36' inch HD TV. Instantly the Jonins were shocked at Naruto's battle against Kakashi and witnessed his power along with his swordplay that made Hayate drool.

"_I simply got to battle this boy in Kenjutsu."_ Said Jonin thought to himself.

Sarutobi said, "Now that is clear, let's see the next one."

Kurenai Yuhi said, "Team 8 passed."

Sarutobi nodded, knowing that Team 9 was still in circulation as his son, Asuma said, "Team 10 passed."

Choza Akimichi said, "Team 11 failed."

Sarutobi said, "All right, Team 7, Team 8 and Team 10 are the only ones that passed, I will expect you three to start your mission tomorrow. Dismissed!" The Jonin filed out of the room only for Sarutobi to think, _"Naruto…..just how strong are you?"_

**Naruto- **Ayane said, **"Did you see the look on Kakashi's face…priceless."**

Naruto replied, _"Yes, his facial expression was most amusing."_

Sephiroth said, **"You did well, Naruto…you are becoming more powerful each day."**

Naruto replied, _"That is because of all of your teachings, Ayane-chan, Cloud-sensei, Sephiroth-sensei."_

Cloud said, **"Just don't get cocky…or you will die."**

Naruto said, _"Confidence and cockiness are not the same thing, Cloud-sensei…but I will do as you ask." _

Then a Jonin with bags under his eyes and a katana strapped to his back appeared before Naruto. "May I help you, sir?" Naruto said.

"My name is Gekko Hayate, I noticed your Kenjutsu and I am astonished by your skills…may you do me the honor of sparring with me?" the Jonin said.

Naruto said, "I guess I can indulge you." Naruto summoned Masamune to his hand with a light green mist covering the blade. "Come." Naruto said.

Hayate came at Naruto with speed until Naruto blocked it using only one hand to fend off his strikes. Hayate did an overhead strike, but Naruto blocked his strike and smirked. Hayate gave him a smirk as well to indicate that he was having fun with it.

Hayate and Naruto jumped back and this time Naruto attacked him with a upward slash, launching Hayate in the air. Naruto jumped up after him and attacked Hayate, who struggled to block his attack until Naruto placed two hands on Masamune to strike Hayate downwards to the ground.

Naruto floated to the ground softly and Hayate ran at him, **"Konoha Ryu: Mikazuki no Mai!!"**

Naruto was intrigued at the technique that he left himself open for the moment to see that Hayate made three clones and had them move in a complicated pattern to confuse him. Naruto followed each one's movements and blocked the one that was trying to strike him from the air.

"Nice try…but it is easy to see their movements….might I ask what clone did you use?" The Jinchuuriki said.

Hayate said, "The standard Bunshin no Jutsu."

Naruto said, "There is a jutsu that could help you out in case someone happens to counter-attack your technique."

Hayate said, "Oh? What is it?"

Naruto said, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

A clone of Naruto appeared behind Hayate placing Masamune on his shoulder. "Since they are solid, you can substitute with the clone to make your opponent confused when the adversary attacks you. Once it dispels, you should be able to attack from behind."

Hayate said, "I see, thank you, Naruto…"

Naruto said, "Thanks for the spar….do you know another swordsman?"

Hayate said, "There is Kakashi Hatake but I have never seen him use a katana since he left the ANBU and there is my fiancé, Yugao."

Naruto said, "Excellent, bring her here tomorrow at the same time…..I like to see if I am able to match myself between two opponents."

Hayate said, "I will…but you better be ready, Naruto….Yugao uses the same style as I and she is in ANBU."

Naruto said, "I will, Hayate-san."

_**Hakureisaiga- So Naruto and his team passed the survival team, everyone is wondering about Naruto's strength….now what will happen next? Tune in next time for the Legend of the Heartless Angel!!! Chapter 3- The Angel meets the Demon**_


	3. The Angel Meets The Demon

_**Hakureisaiga- So far, this story has surpassed the 1000 hits marking and close to 2000 hits. Nice, now let's recap. Naruto has defeated Kakashi single-handed without using any ninjutsu, taijutsu or genjutsu. He has found Gekko Hayate as a sparring partner, it is revealed that Sasuke wants to kill his brother, Itachi, the only Uchiha who Naruto respects and considers him as a brother. Naruto knows about his father, Minato Namikaze the Kiroi Senkou…now let me stop talking and read the reviews, so we can start. Also I don't own Naruto and Final Fantasy VII….I do own the games and purchased books, movies and etc.**_

_**VFSNAKE-Thanks for the comment**_

_**Namikaze09- Hell yea, Bahamut kicks ass and I look forward to seeing you write it, I will also be doing the same challenge**_

_**Challenger- I will do it**_

_**Gallantmon of the Hazard- Maybe, but I am complementing it and put it to a poll to see what the readers think what they want**_

_**Zerohour20xx- Yes, Naruto will be using materia, though it might be summon only **_

_**Darkvizardking69- Thanks and yes, you do have some crazy ideas**_

_**Akatsuki-tenshi-kitsune- Thanks I will**_

_**Lightning blade49- Thanks**_

_**God of all- Thanks**_

_**Gravity the Wizard- Don't worry, she will**_

_**Shihouin Shunshin-Thanks for the comment**_

_**Animefanbren- Thanks**_

_**Jgood27- Glad that you enjoy it**_

_**Untamabledragon144- Thanks for the comment and I see what you are saying, the plot is a little overdone, but I am glad that you felt compelled to comment**_

**Chapter 3- the Angel meets the Demon**

Naruto carried Tora with a glaring Sasuke and Sakura. The cat seemly prefers to go to Naruto instead of Sasuke and Sakura, whom usually get claw marks on their faces. When the team reached the office, Tora immediately hid behind Naruto's legs and Naruto told Lady Shijimi about her hugs.

With a new outlook on cats, Lady Shijimi made Tora's life much easier and everyone was shocked that Naruto had knocked off the most annoying and recurring D-Rank mission.

"Look, Hokage-sama, I am tired of the incessant missions, may I request a C-Rank mission please?" Naruto asked.

Iruka said, "Naruto, you and your team are fresh genin, you three need more experience under your belt."

Naruto said, "Do you want to explain how babysitting, watching the elders' children, and digging up yams are essential to a ninja' s life, Iruka-sensei? I can understand gardening to cope with the death of a loved one or your first kill, but this is ridiculous."

Sarutobi said, "You make a vital point, Naruto. Fine, we will give your team a C-Rank."

Iruka said, "Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi said, "Look, Iruka, you are the one who has seen past Naruto's mask before….something I have never done before. You were the only one to see his true self for the past 5 years. I trust Naruto and plus they have Kakashi with them, they will be fine."

The old man turned to Naruto, "Your C-Rank mission is to escort a bridge builder back to his home in Wave Country and protect him from bandits. Send him in please!"

Suddenly an old man with a straw hat on his head and a sake bottle in his left hand came inside the room, "What a bunch of snot-nosed brats! I see an emo kid, a weird girl that will probably faints at the sight of blood and a…..well, he is decent." Kakashi had to put his book away to prevent Sasuke and Sakura from charging the client.

Naruto looked at the two, "You two, calm down. No killing the client, I just got us a C-Rank mission and now you want to mess it up for an insult."

Sakura said, "You should talk, he didn't insult you."

Naruto said, "So….it is not like we are going to see him again."

Kakashi said, "No matter, let's meet up at 11:00."

The boys nodded and Sakura said, "Sensei, please try to be on time this time…you too, Naruto."

Naruto said, "Hmph, whatever."

The boy wandered off to his home to check his inventory. "Okay, soldier pills, blood pills, throwing knives, summon materia, blank scrolls, extra pair of clothes, bandages, smoke bombs, explosive tags and the Fusion Swords pack." Naruto said to himself, "Well, then let's see about that fight Yugao and Hayate wanted me to do, I got plenty of time before Kakashi shows up with the client."

**Training Area 14- **Naruto came to the training area again and this time, Hayate came with his girlfriend Yugao Uzuki.

"It has been a long time…Neko-chan." Naruto said.

Yugao said, "How did you know it was me?"

Naruto said, "I am sure that you two know about my burden, correct? You along with my sensei had to save me numerous times when you were on duty."

Naruto turned around and stretched his right hand, making First Tsurugi appear in his hand in a light blue mist around the blade.

"I thought you said he only had a seven-foot katana." Yugao said.

Hayate said, "He does have one."

Naruto said, "Your boyfriend is right, Yugao-chan. I do have Masamune, but I am not going to use it today. Now Iet's skip the warm up, I have a C-Rank mission and if I am correct about Kakashi-sensei's chronic tardiness, I have about 2 hours to kill. I hope you have improved with the Kage Bunshin idea I gave you, Hayate-san."

The boy hefted First Tsurugi and thought_, "I have to try and not reveal the secrets of First Tsurugi to them yet. So far, they know that I am fast and powerful with Masamune, but they both don't know anything about First Tsurugi at all." _

Hayate and Yugao drew their katanas and circled Naruto, who slid into Cloud's battle stance. The two attacked at opposite sides and Naruto moved backwards to avoid the strike, making Hayate and Yugao clash with each other.

The two separated to attack Naruto, who defended Hayate's strike and ducked under Yugao's. The Jinchuuriki pushed back at Hayate and kicked Yugao in the stomach hard, making her grimace in pain.

Then Naruto slashed at her, making her block the cleaver with great difficulty. _"He swings that giant sword so much with ease and he is even using one hand to attack me." _Yugao thought as she felt the ringing in her hands.

Hayate came behind and shouted, **"Konoha no Ryu: Mikazuki no Mai!!"**

Naruto smiled at Hayate's use of Kage Bunshin and moved to meet the attack. All three moved in intricate and complicated sword patterns to confuse Naruto and attacked at different intervals.

Naruto flipped backwards to avoid the first clone's attacks and blocked the second one's attack behind. He kicked off the one to meet the third one's aerial assault and slashed the clone through the middle. Naruto landed gracefully with a crouch and slowly stood up to see Hayate with a clone and Yugao surrounding him.

Naruto moved back into his battle stance and one of the Hayates came at him at full speed. Naruto blocked his slash and did an upward slash, breaking Hayate's sword and slicing him in half. Luckily, the Hayate that he was fighting was a clone that poofed out of existence.

Then Hayate came through the white smoke only to be blocked and then Yugao came over head, spinning like a top and slashed at Naruto, who dodged it.

Then she ran at him, slashing at Naruto, who blocked at every turn. "Hmph, is this the best you can do?" Naruto asked as he pushed her back to her fiancé.

"You are good, but I didn't know that you were skilled with a giant sword like that. I was told that you had a katana that was seven feet long." The ANBU said with a smirk.

The Jinchuuriki replied, "I was trained by the best….they beat their styles into my head until I could do it in my sleep. I have been training hard to protect myself…to one day, destroy the man who planted this burden upon me. Now enough of that, let's continue…"

Naruto attacked them as the two lone users of the Crescent Moon style fought against the Angel, both wondering who was the man that caused the boy to harbor such strong hatred in his heart.

**Konoha Front Gates- 1 pm-** After Naruto cleaned himself up from the dirt on his clothes, he moved to the gates only for Sakura to yell, "You're late!"

Naruto said, "Like I said two weeks ago, if Kakashi-sensei is late, then I am not considered late. Now if you would do me and Uchiha a favor, please refrain from using your voice for the remainder of the trip. I don't want to explain to the Hokage how your vocal cords were crudely removed from use."

Sakura immediately shut up to the boys' relief due to Naruto's calm but commanding aura and the look in his slitted eyes told her that he was reconsidering the decision in his hand. When Kakashi came up with Tazuna, Sakura was quiet with Naruto's threat still fresh in her mind.

Kakashi said, "Okay, team, let's move out." The team moved out the gates, surrounding Tazuna.

The Uzumaki looked at Tazuna, who was tense and his eyes darting from side to side. _"Something is up…if there were bandits, Tazuna would not be this jumpy, knowing that he is in good hands, which means that something big is going on here. I guess I have to wait until something appears to prove my theory."_

Sasuke said, "Hey, dobe, why don't you have a pack?"

Naruto said, "Why carry a pack when you can simply seal into a scroll and carry your essentials in there?"

Kakashi said, "You know sealing?"

Naruto said, "Library, sensei….library." The team continued walking, but Naruto noticed that two foreign signatures were following them, hiding in the trees.

Sakura said, "So, umm, Tazuna-san."

Tazuna said, "What?"

Sakura asked, "You are from the Wave country, right?"

Tazuna answered, "So what of it?"

Sakura turned to Kakashi, "Are there any ninjas in that country?"

Kakashi said, "No, not in Wave, but there are others…the culture and customs are different, but hidden villages do exist along with their own ninja. In many countries, the meaning of a shinobi village is that it has military power. An island country like Wave doesn't hold any interference with a shinobi village and therefore doesn't need any ninja protecting them. Within the various countries, the ones that stand out are Konoha, Kiri, Kumo, Suna and Iwa. Thus they are referred to as the Five Great Shinobi Countries, they are ones that have leaders called 'Kages'. The five Kages, Hokage, Mizukage, Raikage, Kazekage and the Tsuchikage are the ones that rule over the thousands of ninja all over the world."

Sakura said, "So then we won't encounter any foreign ninjas?"

Kakashi said, "Of course not, there is never any kind of ninja combat on a C-Rank mission."

Naruto muttered as he passed by a puddle, "I wouldn't be so sure about that." His eyes flickered to the client, who had a guilty look on his face. _"So I was right, there are ninja here…but it doesn't explain why he would lie about the mission." _He thought.

Just then he heard a whistling sound and he turned to see Kakashi trapped in a bladed chain with two Mist ninja attached to the ends. "One down…" One of them said.

Then Kakashi was cut into bloodied chunks and then the ninjas appeared behind Naruto as they said in unison, "Two down."

Naruto said calmly, "You are right…two down."

The Jinchuuriki appeared behind them and knocked them both out. The two dropped to the floor soundly and Naruto tied them up against the tree with their hands bounded, so that they would not be able to do the Escape Jutsu. "You can come out now, Kakashi-sensei."

The Jonin said, coming out of hiding, "I thought you guys would be okay."

Sakura looked at the remains of her sensei to see that he used Kawarimi to avoid the attack. Naruto said, "The Demon Brothers, Meizu and Gozu…status: Mist Chunin, known for assassination and the ability to fight until the objective is done. Also their weapons have poison laced on them….you did that scare to figure out what they were after, didn't you?"

Kakashi nodded and Meizu asked, "How did you know we were there?"

Naruto said, "You had a crappy genjutsu…you used a puddle for Kami's sake and it has not rained for days. On top of that, it is a sunny day."

He turned to Tazuna, "Care to explain why these ninja are after you and don't even try to lie. You were looking guilty when Kakashi –sensei mentioned that there was no ninja combat on a C-Rank mission, also you have been jumpy since the beginning of the mission."

Kakashi said, "Which means that this should be a B-Rank or even an A-Rank mission now. We are operating outside our duties now."

Sakura said, "I think that we should quit, this mission is way too advanced for us."

Naruto said, "I suggest that you start telling us the reason, Tazuna-san."

Tazuna said, "The truth is…my village is very poor and there is a super dangerous man that is after my life now. His name is Gato."

Kakashi said, "The Gato of Gato Company?"

Tazuna nodded, "He officially runs a shipping company, but secretly he sells drugs, illegal items and women as sex slaves, using ninjas and thugs to take over countries and businesses."

Naruto thought, _"Women as sex slaves? Oh, hell no! We are continuing this mission regardless of what anybody says."_

Ayane said, **"You better and make sure you kill him slowly and painfully bit by bit." **

The Jinchuuriki voiced, "We are continuing this mission. I will not stand by while this man does these unspeakable things."

Sasuke followed him, thinking, "There are strong guys on this mission and I will be the one to test my skills…and see if I am able to defeat…..him."

Kakashi looked at Sakura, "Looks like you are overruled, Sakura." The team continued their mission and soon found a contact that brought them across the river.

**Outskirts of Wave-** _"I will get stronger than you, Naruto, I am an avenger, I am destined to be stronger than Itachi and kill him...I will show you that we are superior and not assholes to you, Naruto." _Sasuke thought, _"Uchiha are not arrogant, only confident that we are the champion. We show our Sharingan to the enemy, making sure that it will be the last sight that they will see before they fall to the abyss of death." _

Sasuke took out a shuriken and flung into the trees, making the group stop and Kakashi investigated the room to see a rabbit scared to death with Sasuke's shuriken embedded inches above its head.

Naruto bent down and grabbed the rabbit to calm its nerves down by petting, "Good job, Uchiha. The rabbit's fur is out of season meaning someone is here."

Naruto detected someone in the treetops, "You can come out now, sir or madam."

A man dressed in camouflage arm and leg-warmers with light blue pants. "Zabuza Momochi, A-Rank missing nin, Master of the Silent Killing style and former member of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist. Also the cause of the end of the Bloody Mist Graduation Exam by slaughtering a class without any ninja training of some sort. You are also accused of an assassination attempt on the Sandaime Mizukage." Naruto stated in monotone.

Zabuza said, "Hmph, I am honored to see that you know my name so well…is it because of fear?"

Naruto said, "No…because of excitement, you see….I happen to be a swordsman too."

Naruto revealed First Tsurugi and pointed at Zabuza, "And I always wanted to fight against a true swordsman."

Zabuza laughed, "You think that you, a mere Genin can keep up with me?"

Naruto said, "No, I know I can…the real question is can you keep up with me….Zabuza-oji-san?"

Zabuza's eye twitched and then the jonin said, "You are going to die first."

Naruto let loose a small chuckle, "Hmph, come and try."

Zabuza said, "Such confidence, but I wonder how long it will last. **Kirigakure no Jutsu!**" Suddenly a mist rolled in, covering Naruto and Zabuza from view of Kakashi, Tazuna and the rest of Team 7.

Zabuza moved and Naruto hefted First Tsurugi to block Zabuza's strike. Naruto pushed back and attacked Zabuza, who blocked his slashes due to his experience. Zabuza swiped at Naruto's head and the Jinchuuriki ducked low to avoid the slash that could have taken his head and his life.

Then Naruto turned around, dragging First Tsurugi lightly on the ground to block Zabuza's overhead strike. Naruto punched Zabuza in the face and the Jonin backed up, blood dripping from the side of his mouth due to him biting his tongue.

Zabuza spat out blood and jumped back to land on the lake, **"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"**

A giant water dragon made of water came up and Zabuza directed the jutsu to attack Naruto. Naruto braced himself and channeled Mako energy into the cleaver, making the blade give off a light blue glow and then he swung downwards at the dragon, unleashing a giant wave at the dragon, cutting it in half and Zabuza had to jump to the side to avoid the blast.

Naruto appeared behind Zabuza and kicked back to land. The ex-Mist Jonin landed hard against a tree and Naruto looked at him with a bored look on his face. "

Is this the best you can do?" he asked in monotone.

Zabuza slowly lifted himself up and charged at Naruto with a war cry. Naruto was suddenly surrounded by a darkened mix of blue and green Mako energy and whispered out his attack, **"Omnislash."**

Naruto slashed at Zabuza at random intervals, gravelly injuring Zabuza and sending the Jonin into the trees.

"It's over, Zabuza Momochi." Naruto said with First Tsurugi on his shoulder.

"What are you?" Zabuza asked.

Naruto said, "What am I? That is a good question…in my village, I am considered as a demon….but in reality…." He put a palm to his head and shifted it quickly to the side to show his black and white wings. "I am Naruto Uzumaki, an angel…..a heartless angel, a messenger of death to my enemies. Too bad that you are a demon, Zabuza…since angels and demons are natural enemies to each other. I will see you in the next life."

Naruto raised First Tsurugi with one hand, poised to strike him down when suddenly two senbon found themselves embedded in Zabuza's neck.

"Thank you for subduing Zabuza, ninja of Konoha." A small voice said. Everyone looked to see a Kiri hunter nin in the trees.

"Hmmm, a Kiri hunter Nin, eh?" Kakashi said as he strode forward to see that Zabuza was dead.

The hunter nin appeared beside Zabuza and lifted his body until Naruto appeared behind her with his sword near her head, "You are not going anywhere, hunter nin. Tell me what is your name and your relationship with Zabuza Momochi."

Sakura shouted, "Naruto, what are you doing?"

Naruto ignored her and continued, "Your act was flawless, but if you were a real Hunter nin, you would have dispose of the body on the spot after you killed him. You didn't instead you put him in a false death-like state to take him."

The hunter ninja said, "You are correct, Naruto-kun."

Naruto said, "Reveal your face please."

The girl complied, slowly lifting up her hands and took off her mask to show her feminine face, "My name is Haku Momochi, the apprentice of Zabuza."

Naruto commanded, "Stand up and face me." Haku stood up and turned around to face Naruto. His slitted blue-green eyes met her soft chocolate brown to reveal everything to him. "You have had a hard childhood, haven't you, Haku-san?" Naruto asked.

Haku's eyes showed surprise at Naruto's blunt statement. "You were just like me, you didn't have anywhere to go until Zabuza found you….you were shunned for something different about yourself, also despite your skills, you have never killed anyone in your life."

Haku said quietly, "How did you…."

Naruto said, "You have the same eyes that I used to have a long time ago. Tell me how you met Zabuza from start to finish."

Haku began her story, "I used to live in a small village near Kiri, I had a mother and father….when I discovered my kekkei genkai to manipulate ice, inherited from my mother, she told me to never reveal it ever again. Someone saw and told my father about it and at that time, Kiri decreed that bloodlines were dangerous and must be purged. My mother was the last of her clan and my father along with some of the villagers banded together. He killed my mother and came slowly to kill me only in my fear, I unconsciously activated my Kekkei Genkai and they died. I ran away, scavenging for food until Zabuza saw me, he took me in and trained me to a shinobi and control my kekkei genkai. On the day he found me, I made my life to him as his weapon and his tool until he died or I was proven useless."

Naruto said, "I see, then I will not kill either of you….instead I am taking you back home with us."

The team and Haku was surprised at Naruto as he said, "Both of your lives belong to me since I have shown both of you mercy….you will tell this to Zabuza when he awakens, also Gato is the root of this land's misery and pain. Knowing Gato's nature, he likes his money and finds that he can dispose nuke-nin easily than hired ninja, I want you to go back to him and to wait one week to recover and relay Gato a message, tell him that I am coming for him. Also if Zabuza doesn't agree with my idea, then he can challenge me again for his freedom. So I want you to notify me on Saturday in the forest." Naruto removed First Tsurugi from Haku's head and allowed her to take Zabuza away.

Kakashi said, "Was that wise, Naruto?"

Naruto said, "Either way, I win….they can be my subordinates or they will die by my hand and I think Sasuke would like to fight Haku, therefore it is a win-win situation, now let's escort Tazuna back home. I am tired from fighting Zabuza-oji-san. Despite the fact that I won, he was strong with his strikes."

The five of them moved toward Tazuna's house while Naruto resealed First Tsurugi back into his hand. Meanwhile in Naruto's mind, Ayane said, **"So much blood….oh, you don't know how much that turns me on, Naruto-kun." **

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and Cloud backed away from the horny vixen, who receded back into her cage to take care of her personal needs.

Sephiroth said, **"Do you…."**

Cloud said, **"Sephiroth, for once in your life, don't ask any questions. This is something that you definitely don't want to know about. Trust me, hanging around with Tifa and Yuffie gives you some ideas." **

**Tazuna's House- **"What was that sword, Naruto?" Sasuke asked, "I have never seen you use it before besides of that long katana of yours and what was that attack? That was not chakra at all."

Naruto said, "The sword is called First Tsurugi, I had it along with Masamune and trained with it using a book that had katas for zanbatou or giant swords. The attack is solely known to me because I have a secondary source of chakra, but it changes when I came in contact with something…I have no idea what it was, but it doesn't matter and I have been experimenting with it since I was in the Academy."

Technically, Naruto was not lying since he did come in contact with Cloud and Sephiroth to change his genetic structure a bit. His hair grew a bit longer and Naruto had to tie in a long ponytail that stopped at the edge of his waist. Some of his bangs drooped over his forehead and his headband was tied as a belt around his midriff.

Kakashi said, "Nevertheless, we need to train to be ready for the next time. Zabuza, knowing his pride as a swordsman, will fight Naruto and Gato might hire another ninja to fight us. Sasuke, you will deal with Haku if they fight against us and Sakura, you will protect Tazuna."

Sasuke asked, "What exactly are you going to teach us, Kakashi."

Kakashi said, "That is a secret, Sasuke…now everyone should rest up, you three have a big day tomorrow."

The next day, Kakashi stood in front of Team 7 in a heavily forested area. "First, we will be working on your chakra control, since you all have been throwing excess chakra away."

Sakura said, "So it is to help us control our Chakra."

Kakashi said, "Yes, if you master this exercise, theoretically you can master any jutsu."

Sasuke said, "Then what are we waiting for? The soon we master this exercise, the soon I get more jutsu, so I can kill Itachi."

Naruto said, "You do realize that Itachi is an ex-ANBU captain and you are just a genin. Plus he hardly shows his emotions, but one mention of his name makes you lose all rationality."

Sakura scolded, "Stop antagonizing Sasuke-kun."

Naruto turned to Sakura, "What the fuck did I just say to you yesterday?"

The Haruno immediately clamped her mouth shut in fear of Naruto's annoyed look. Kakashi said, "Naruto, that is enough. Now use these kunai to mark your progress up your tree, and then use it to surpass. You guys won't be good enough to walk up…."

Naruto calmly walked up the tree and sat on a branch near Kakashi's head, "You were saying, sensei?"

Kakashi said, "You got this quicker than I expected."

Naruto said, "Because when controlling Chakra, you have to be calm. Chakra is like a current and you just have to flow with it until you feel the right amount. Sakura here has the lowest chakra capacity, but the best chakra control than all of us. Sasuke has the chakra capacity of a chunin due to being an Uchiha and has adequate chakra control, so he will take a bit longer to get up the tree. Me….I have a chakra capacity of a low Jonin, but adequate chakra control. Throw in me being calm and I can get up this tree."

Sasuke said, "How did you do it so easily?"

Naruto said, "Weren't you listening? You need to calm down, Sasuke and focus. Clear your mind of everything you once knew….even your revenge and hatred for a moment, then you will master this exercise, but do a running start."

Sasuke nodded and closed his eyes, then after a few seconds, his eyes snapped open and he ran up the tree until he felt himself slipping and landed on a branch below Naruto and Kakashi.

"Nice job, Sasuke-kun." Sakura said, cheering.

Kakashi eye-smiled at Sasuke and the Uchiha smirked, looking at Naruto, who was looking at something else. "Hey, kid, you can stop hiding behind that tree." Naruto called out in monotone.

Inari came out from behind the tree and said, "This is just a waste of time for all of you."

Naruto jumped off and floated downwards, his feet touching the ground softly like he had wings secretly behind his back. "You lost someone close to you because of Gato….making you believe and fear Gato because he has nuke-nin and thugs in front of him. That is all you see, Inari."

Inari stiffened for a moment and shouted, "You know nothing about life, you are a ninja…you have the glory life."

Naruto whispered, "No…I don't have a glory life, Inari…..back in my home village, I was hated and shunned for something I had no control over…in a result, when I was five….I had very little training and was captured by some of the ninja in my village."

He opened the zipper on his jacket to show his bare chest, covering with crude, large cuts that almost made Inari throw up. "On top of that, you had a mother and grandfather in that home that you live in. Me….I have lived by myself with no one until I was four years old….the people who taught me until they had to leave before I turned twelve. I had only a few people that care about me…Hokage-oji-san, Ayame-chan, Teuchi-oji-san, Hinata-chan, Itachi-nii-san, and some of the ANBU."

Naruto looked at Inari, "I would give anything to have a mother like yours….I never knew my mother or father, only stories…they were great people and I believe that they love me very much. I blame the person who made this all happen to me….if he hadn't done anything, none of those events would have happen and I will kill him since I have what he wants the most. He will come and I will make sure he goes straight to Hell."

Naruto zipped back up his jacket and said, "Besides Gato is not strong at all, he is just a spineless little man, but I will kill him for leaving this country in poverty like this. People this kind should not have to suffer at all. Excuse me, sensei, but I will be leaving here to escort Inari back home."

Kakashi nodded and Naruto, with Inari trailing behind him left to go to Tazuna's house. After a few minutes, Inari asked, "Why do they hate you so much?"

Naruto said, "Inari, can you keep a secret?"

Inari nodded and Naruto said, "You must never tell anyone this especially around Kakashi and my teammates."

Inari nodded again and Naruto said, "12 years ago, there was a demon called the Kyuubi no Kitsune came to my home village, Konoha. The Yondaime saw that the demon was being controlled by a mysterious force and first tried to break the spell but to no avail. He was forced to seal the demon away at the cost of his own life, but the Kyuubi was a Bijuu and demons with 5 tails and up had to be sealed in a living object, a baby. I happen to be that baby and for years, I have been shunned because people stupidly believe that I was the Kyuubi no Kitsune."

Inari said, "But….you aren't a demon…demons usually attack humans on sight and without mercy. They don't take any insolence from anyone."

Naruto chuckled, "You are very smart, Inari…I just wish that there were more people like you in Konoha."

Inari said, "I am so sorry for saying that your life is better than yours, Naruto-san." Naruto said, "It is okay, you have never encountered ninja before….so you didn't know the aspect of a ninja's life."

Inari said, "I don't believe that you are a demon….if you were, you would be worse than Gato and kill everyone in the village. Therefore you are just as human as all of us."

Naruto smiled, "Thanks, Inari. You truly are your father's son."

Inari said, "How did you know?"

Naruto said, "There is a picture in your room with him and on it, there were dried tears. Gato must have killed him for standing up against his will, I will make sure to make Gato pay for his crimes against this village and you, Inari."

Inari smiled and said, "Thanks, Naruto-nii-san."

Naruto was surprised at the suffix, but his face softened as Inari gave him a hug. Naruto said, "Let's go before your mother gets worried about you."

Later, Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke found the sight of Naruto playing with Inari outside the door. Kakashi knew that something had happened because usually Naruto is always calm and sometimes indifferent and Inari was lamenting on how Gato was the strongest person and he will kill them.

After Naruto left the group, Sasuke had worked harder, making him reach the middle point of the tree in the end while Sakura ran up and down to increase her chakra capacity. Then he gave them each scroll for a C-Rank jutsu.

For Sakura, Katon: Housenka no Jutsu and for Sasuke, Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu.

He had a scroll for Naruto to learn a Fuuton jutsu, assuming that Naruto had an affinity for it just like his sensei. Tsunami said, "Inari, Naruto-san, time to come inside…oh, sensei, Sasuke-san, Sakura-san, you guys are back."

Naruto turned to see his teammates and gave a small wave to them before going inside.

Sakura said, "How come you never smile when you are with us?"

Naruto said with his serious face on, "Because…I don't like your attitudes and I don't trust you…both of you."

With that, Naruto walked back inside with Kakashi and the two teammates trailing behind him.

Meanwhile at Gato's hideout, Haku sat by Zabuza's side quietly until Gato came inside, "So even you came back defeated, it looks like Kiri ninjas are pretty pathetic."

Haku replied, "There is a man who has abilities that have not been seen before. He had exceptional kenjutsu abilities that rivals Zabuza and put him in this condition, also Sharingan no Kakashi is among the bodyguards with him." Gato said, "Which is why I took the liberty of hiring another missing nin."

A tall man with a jagged scar running from the corner of his mouth to his jaw line, "Tatsuno Ishizaki, formerly from Iwa. Long time no see, Zabuza."

Zabuza said, "Tatsuno, you became a missing nin."

Tatsuno said, "Apparently the Sandaime Tsuchikage didn't like the fact that I killed his subordinates while I was protesting against his rule. I wanted to see Konohagakure destroyed while the old fool wants to let it go…it was war and the Kiroi Senko did what he had to do."

Haku said, "He also gave me a message for you, Zabuza-sama and Gato. Zabuza-sama, Naruto said that since he spared both of our lives, they belong to him now…if you don't agree, then you will fight for your freedom in one week's time. As for you, Gato, he said that he holds no mercy for you because he said when this is all over, he will kill you."

Gato paled in fear as he knew that Zabuza and Haku could kill him if they were not bound by contract, but this Naruto Uzumaki, he was able to defeat Zabuza and make him bedridden for a week, which means that he was screwed if he killed Tatsuno along with Zabuza and Haku.

Gato said, "I am sure with the three of you together can kill him along with Sharingan no Kakashi."

Tatsuno said, "I will be the one to kill him, he was the one who killed my brother with that damned Chidori of his."

Gato said, "Then it is settled."

The Mafia boss wanna-be left the room along with Tatsuno, then Zabuza spoke up, "I know that I can't beat him, Haku….but I can't ignore my pride as a swordsman….I want you to go with him if I fall down. At least I will die honorably against someone stronger than me….you will take on my legacy since I have trained you in the Silent Killing style and my kenjutsu style, Kubikiri no Ryu."

Haku had tears running down her face and said, "I will do as you ask, Zabuza-sama."

Zabuza said, "It is not Zabuza-sama anymore, it is Zabuza-tou-san, you are Haku Momochi, my apprentice and my adopted daughter. I have never shown it, but I have always thought of you as my daughter."

Haku bowed her head, crying silently as she hugged her surrogate father lightly because of his injuries. _"Naruto Uzumaki, huh? The Heartless Angel, that will be a good name for your enemies to fear, kid."_ Zabuza thought to himself.

_**Hakureisaiga- I will end it here, review and tell me what you think. And no, you can't change my mind about Zabuza even though I like his character, I have no need for him to be in the story. So R.I.P. Zabuza, also we have a new character into play, Tatsuno Ishizaki, an ex-Iwa Jonin with a grudge against Konoha especially against Sharingan no Kakashi and Minato Namikaze, the Kiroi Senkou. He specializes in kenjutsu, taijutsu and ninjutsu. He had primarily earth and wind jutsu, which can be combined to make dust jutsu. He carries a sword that is darkened brown from the blood of his enemies and it is named Chishikarasu (Blood Raven).**_

_**Hakureisaiga- With this new enemy in play, what will happen in the final battle on the bridge? How will Tatsuno react when he sees Naruto? Tune in the next chapter, the Duel of the Fates: Earth, Wind, Water, Lightning!**_


	4. Duel of the Fates

_**Shadow Master Seek- Yeah, Zabuza deserves that much**_

_**Gallantmon of the Hazard- Cloud will warn him about Sasuke. Cloud thinks that he is another potential, but he is not close at all and Naruto doesn't care about Sasuke knowing that he is not a threat to him.**_

_**Akatsuki-tenshi-kitsune- Thanks**_

_**Namikaze09- Thanks and I thought the first chapter was awesome**_

_**VFSNAKE- Yes, this will all happen**_

_**Darkvizardking69- Bahamut is a must and it is the regular. He, along with Phoenix and maybe Ifrit**_

_**Animefanbren-Sorry, but his death plays a part with the pairing between Naruto and Haku**_

_**Challenger-Yeah, that is a good idea and yes, he will take that mission**_

_**Lightning blade49-Thanks for reviewing**_

_**Kaiba1288-Thanks**_

_**Dinoboy48-Thanks and he might….I have not decided yet**_

_**God of all- Thanks**_

_**Jgood27-Thanks**_

_**Godlike-Naruto-Hmm? That is a good idea, have Aerith reincarnated into Narutoverse, nice.**_

_**To the rest, thanks for the reviews**_

**Chapter 4- Duel of the Fates: Earth, Wind, Water and Lightning**

After Naruto was done with his patrol and watching over Tazuna at the bridge. He helped the men by using Kage Bunshin to help speed up the process, then he went to travel around the woods, by mere coincidence, Haku was the lady dressed in a pink sleeveless kimono, picking herbs mainly for Zabuza to make his healing go faster.

Naruto have never seen her with her hair down and became mesmerized by her beauty.

He whispered, "Beautiful."

Haku jumped in surprise and turned around to see Naruto. She blushed at the compliment, giving Naruto enough time to regain his composure. The Jinchuuriki asked, "So, what is the verdict, Haku?"

The girl replied sadly, "Zabuza-sama…I mean, Zabuza-tou-san will still fight you since he can't ignore his pride as a swordsman."

Naruto said with a sigh, "So it has come to this, huh? Fine, I see how it is. I really wanted him to live, but I will grant his wish."

Haku said, "Also Gato hired another ninja—a nukenin from Iwa named Tatsuno Ishizaki, he seems to hold a grudge against Kakashi Hatake for killing his brother."

Naruto thought, _"And I look like my father too…this is going to be a bit difficult."_

The Jinchuuriki stated, "Is that all?"

Haku nodded and Naruto bowed his head to her, preparing to leave until she grabbed Naruto's wrist and asked, "Why…why did you spare us?"

Naruto said, "I don't kill needlessly unless I have to. I wanted to give you two a way out since Gato will kill you after your job is done or not. Since you are not registered as a ninja and Zabuza is a nukenin, you are much easier to get rid of."

Haku said, "A true shinobi is supposed to steel his or heart and be able to kill without shedding a tear."

Naruto said, "I don't believe that philosophy at all….even the most hardened shinobi can shed a tear for the ones they love. We both know that…..I rather save lives than end them if I had a choice. I will see to it that Zabuza-san's last battle will be glorious."

Haku said, "Thank you….Naruto." Naruto turned and said, "Until we meet again on the battlefield." Haku nodded and turned away, heading back to the hideout.

**House-** Naruto came inside and Kakashi asked, "What did you find out, Naruto?"

The Jinchuuriki replied, "You were right, Gato did hire another nukenin. His name is Tatsuno Ishizaki formerly from Iwa. Looks like you get to fight and also Zabuza will be fighting against me for his pride and freedom."

Kakashi said, "What about that Haku girl?"

The swordsman replied, "She will be fighting and the only thing I know about her is that she knows the human body fairly well, skilled with senbon and mentioned a Kekkei Genkai for manipulating ice."

Sasuke said, "Fire can defeat ice."

Naruto said, "In theory, yes. Ice is a sub-element, making it a bit more reinforced. But….you just have to keep her from using any jutsu."

The Hatake said, "So I'll fight Tatsuno, Naruto will fight Zabuza and Sasuke will fight Haku meanwhile Sakura will protect Tazuna." Everyone nodded and went to bed, having the events of the battle tomorrow.

Next morning, Team Seven woke up early to go to the bridge while Naruto had stationed some Kage Bunshin to protect Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami and Inari. As they reached the bridge, they found men groaning and Tazuna ran to a barely conscious man.

"What happened?" the bridge builder asked.

The man mumbled, "M-Monster."

Suddenly a thick mist rolled in and the team tensed up. "Sakura, you know what to do." Kakashi said.

The bubble-gum haired girl nodded and took a stance in front of Tazuna while the men walked toward the mist to meet Haku, Zabuza and Tatsuno in that order. Tatsuno sneered, "Kakashi Hatake, do you remember a man named Ichiro Ishizaki?"

Kakashi said, "Yes…I already knew that someone would come after me for revenge."

The missing ninja turned to look at Naruto and asked, "Kid, what is your name?"

Naruto answered, "Uzumaki Naruto."

Tatsuno chuckled a bit and said, "Funny, you look just like the Kiroi Senko."

Naruto retorted in monotone, "Are you sure you are not going senile, Tatsuno-san?"

Tatsuno shot back, "Are you sure you are not the son of…"

Kakashi attacked Tatsuno with a kunai, who blocked it with his blood-stained blade. Zabuza said, "Haku, go….I don't want you here….you might get hurt."

Haku nodded and attacked Sasuke, pushing the Uchiha away from his teammate and sensei. The wind blew across the bridge, shifting Naruto and Zabuza's clothes to one side. "Are you sure you want to go through this, Zabuza-san?" Naruto asked, "You could live along with your daughter."

Zabuza hefted his sword and answered, "Kid, a man knows when his time is up when he fights an opponent. I can sense great things that will happen to you….being the first one to fall against you in battle will be considered a honor to me. So let's go and don't hold back or I will kill you, kid."

The Jinchuuriki unsealed Masamune and said, "Release the seal on Kubikiri Houcho, I know that is not its true form."

Zabuza chuckled, "Only you would have noticed it….I keep it in this form because I don't like how small they are." Zabuza bit his thumb to wipe blood on the sword. Kubikiri Houcho glowed and shrinked down to two katanas….two katanas that look like regular, but Naruto noticed that there were small hooks like the edges on serrated knives. _**(Picture Kenpachi Zaraki's Zanpakutou only the edges are more like a serrated knife)**_ "I like quick and clean, not jagged and messy. It is hard getting out the bits of skin from each." Zabuza commented.

Naruto said, "Hence why you are a master at the Silent Killing technique." The Jinchuuriki hefted Masamune poised over his left shoulder. There was silence and then they both ran at each other, the battle has begun.

**Tatsuno and Kakashi-** Tatsuno said, "It's ironic the both of us were trained by our own Kages, you with the Yondaime Hokage and the Sandaime Tsuchikage with me. And to my luck, the Yondaime's kid is still alive too." Kakashi unsealed his ANBU ninjato and whispered, "Never thought that I would need you again….Shirokami _**(Translation: White God)**_

Tatsuno said, "Your sword's name is Shirokami, eh? Mine's Chishikarasu…fitting name since the brown color is just dried blood from my previous enemies."

Kakashi said, "That is sickening…"

Tatsuno said, "You are one to talk since you killed my brother with blood on your hands."

Kakashi said, "We were at war, Tatsuno. In war, it is kill or be killed, your brother knew the risks that he was taking and he ended up with the short end of the stick."

Tatsuno shouted, "Shut up! First, I will kill you to avenge my brother, then I will kill that kid and bring his head back to Iwa to be welcomed back as a hero. Then I will kill that fool of a Tsuchikage and proceed to destroy Konoha."

Kakashi lifted up his headband to show his Sharingan and said, "If you think about killing Naruto, I doubt you will leave here alive….because of two reasons, one….I will stop you and two, if you manage to kill me, you will die. Naruto is strong and even I was hard-pressed to survive against his kenjutsu. Don't underestimate us or Konoha because we are strong and will protect our own. I killed your brother because I would have lost someone that I considered as a sister to me and I will be damned if I lose anyone else."

Tatsuno said, "Then I guess I will have to kill that pink-haired girl of yours."

Tatsuno charged to move to Sakura's location, but Kakashi intercepted him. Tatsuno lashed out at Kakashi, but the Jonin blocked his strike with Shirokami. Then he pulled back and thrusted at the former Iwa Nin, Tatsuno flicked his blade to divert Kakashi's thrust, making him stumble forward.

Then Tatsuno struck Kakashi with a backhand fist and tried an overhand strike, but Kakashi used his free hand to block his descending arm and kicked Tatsuno in the stomach. The Iwa missing nin recovered to block a strike aimed at his torso from Kakashi and pushed back.

Kakashi back flipped in the air and landed only to end up backing up to avoid Tatsuno's wild strikes. "Die, die, die, die!" Tatsuno shouted. Kakashi blocked every strike and then Tatsuno backed off to sheath his sword. He flipped through hand signs, **"Jinton: Genkai Hakuri no Jutsu."**

Kakashi's eyes widened as he thought, _"Oh, shit….that cube has a lot of molecule-sized dust. If that thing hits me, I will ripped apart molecule by molecule."_

Kakashi flipped through hand signs after he stabbed Shirokami in the ground, **"Doton: Doryuheki!"** The Jonin quickly spat out mud after he took down his mask and brought it back up to cover his mouth. The dust cube collided with the mud wall, making a large explosion appear.

Kakashi looked around to see Tatsuno was gone. _"Where is he at? Wait a minute, that son of a…"_ he thought. He quickly ran over to Tazuna and Sakura to find that Tatsuno held Sakura with Chishikarasu at her throat.

"Shit," cursed Kakashi.

Tatsuno said, "Toss the sword, Hatake or this pretty little girl dies."

He licked her ear, making Sakura shriek in terror. Kakashi slowly tossed Shirokami away and then Tatsuno said, "Now you are not so tough, are you?"

Kakashi said, "Let her go, Tatsuno."

Tatsuno said, "How about no. She is my insurance that you won't try anything at all."

Kakashi's eyes flickered between Sakura and Tatsuno, "She has nothing to do with this. Let her go now, this battle is between me and you, Tatsuno."

Tatsuno said, "You are right, but I will also do anything it takes to win this battle even sacrifice this girl to win. Pity, she would have been a nice slave too." Then Sakura made her move, she stabbed Tatsuno in the leg, making the Iwa Nin lose his hold on her and ran away.

Apparently Tatsuno forgot about the kunai that she held in her hand when he appeared behind her and captured her. Kakashi immediately engaged Tatsuno by sending a palm thrust strike to his torso, then followed up with a upward kick to the chin.

Tatsuno stumbled back as Kakashi, in a sense, lit his ass up with a series of punches and kicks, making his body hurt all over. Then Kakashi kicked him away, making Tatsuno bounce and roll on the concrete floor.

Kakashi took his sword back up again and move to stand in front of Sakura and Tazuna, "Tatsuno, you just made one big mistake…." Shirokami began to glow and was incased with a blinding white chakra, "I will show you why….I call this sword Shirokami."

**Sasuke and Haku- **Haku said, "Give up, Sasuke-san and I will give you a quick death."

Sasuke said, "No, I can't do that….I have to get my ambition to avenge my family and also…I want to prove something to Naruto and to myself, that I am just as strong as he is. I will defeat you, Haku."

Haku said, "So be it."

She began to flip through hand signs, but Sasuke shouted, **"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu."** He blew a large fireball at her, causing Haku to Shunshin away from the blast, but then another fireball was headed for her.

Haku dodged again and this time, Sasuke engaged her with a kunai in his hand. Haku took out a senbon and clashed against his weapon. Then they ended up in a standoff as Haku said, "You are at a disadvantage."

Sasuke questioned, "How? You have only one hand."

Haku said, "This is true and there is water around us too."

Haku began to do one-handed seals until the Uchiha grabbed her wrist and twisted it sharply to make her stop.

he winced in pain and kicked Sasuke in the shin, making him groan and let go. She jumped away, but Sasuke followed up quickly by flipping through hand seals, **"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu."** Haku dodged to avoid the small projectiles, but one caught too close and burned her sleeve.

Haku looked at it for a moment, but Sasuke smashed into her with a right hook. She flew back a bit, but the Uchiha didn't stop there. He kicked her in the chest, then grabbed her arms pulling her back towards him to execute a scorpion kick.

Next, he crouched low and sweep kicked her legs, making Haku crash down to the floor. Sasuke was aiming to pin her hand to the ground with a kunai, but Haku rolled to the side and lashed out at the Uchiha with a kick.

It caught Sasuke in the face and he fell to the ground. Sasuke got back on his feet to see Haku finishing her hand seals, **"Sensatsu Shishio!"** She stamped at the water, making it float in the air and convert themselves into ice senbon.

Then they launched themselves at Sasuke, who used chakra to his legs and jumped into the air. He threw kunai at Haku, making her jump back and had a kunai hover under his foot. As he got a clear shot, he landed near Haku and kicked at her, launching the kunai at the ice user.

The girl's chocolate brown eyes widened at the maneuver and tried to dodge it, but the kunai pierced through her shoulder. Haku screamed in pain, giving Sasuke the chance to hit her in the face. She rolled away and Sasuke said, "Give up, you can't win this fight."

Haku grimaced in pain as she clutched her shoulder, trying to stop the bleeding. "I will….not give up, I will fight. I will not let you win, I must save Zabuza and you are in the way." Haku made one hand sign, **"Makyo Hyosho!"** Suddenly a dome of ice mirrors surrounded Sasuke, making him panic. "Damn it, this will be a problem."

Haku said in a cold tone, "Sasuke Uchiha, you will die here."

**Naruto and Zabuza-** The two clashed with each other, both of them were wounded from their strikes. Naruto's right sleeve along with some of his skin was ripped, his right cheek was slashed and his left shoulder has a large jagged gash.

Zabuza was a bit worse off with his thigh slashed, his torso had a large diagonal slash running from his shoulder down to the middle of his stomach and his left arm was messed up pretty badly. Both of the swordsmen were tired and smiling at each other.

"You know, I can't remember how much fun I had fighting anybody." Zabuza said, "Maybe it is because I am fighting without regret."

Naruto said, "Maybe it is….I am having fun as well. You are a strong opponent, Zabuza. Since you don't have to swing that giant cleaver, you are faster than usual."

Naruto stabbed at Zabuza, but the demon took his swords and blocked it. Zabuza pushed back and slashed at Naruto's neck, but Naruto blocked it with Masamune only to see that Zabuza's second katana was aimed at his torso.

He twisted to the side, avoiding the thrust and kicked Zabuza in the stomach, agitating the wound and making Zabuza bleed again. Naruto did an upward slash and Zabuza was launched in the air with Naruto close behind him.

Zabuza shouted, **"Suiton: Tsuin Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"**

Two dragons made of water appeared behind Zabuza and moved over him to attack Naruto. The attack crashed into Naruto, but the Jinchuuriki sliced the water dragons, making them become water once again and rain upon the bridge.

Zabuza fell to the ground, but Naruto pulled out a light purple ball and placed it in his right arm, "Aero!" Zabuza instantly stopped and began to float in the air, Naruto descended down to Zabuza's eye view and released his black and white wings.

"What are you doing?" Zabuza said.

"I want to give you a glorious battle, Zabuza. We are not done yet, that technique will last until I am dead, now come."

Zabuza smiled and moved toward Naruto. The Jinchuuriki charged at Zabuza with Masamune poised over his left shoulder and slashed at Zabuza. The Demon of the Mist instinctively crossed his swords in an X position to absorb the blow, but he flew backwards.

Zabuza was flipping backwards due to the force until he corrected himself. He looked around to find any trace of Naruto and found him on his right side. Naruto slashed Zabuza in half and the Jonin instantly turned into mist.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise and then he heard a whistling sound and used Masamune to block the shuriken. "Of course, you would use the mist for your Silent Killing technique. This is better than I expected of you, Zabuza-san."

Zabuza's voice seem to echo as he chuckled, "Thanks, kid, now let's begin."

Naruto smirked as he closed his eyes and tuned out his hearing to focus. Cloud's voice rang in his head, _**'There are times when your senses will be affected and you will not be able to decipher what is reality and what is fantasy? Therefore you must close your mind and senses. Instead of following your senses, you follow your heart, your feelings…they will tell you what to do.**_

' Suddenly kunai and shuriken were thrown from all sides and Naruto with his eyes closed either dodged or batted them away like flies, making them rain down to the bridge. Suddenly several Zabuzas burst from the mist's covering and attacked Naruto.

One slashed at Naruto, but he back flipped in the air. Another tried to cut him from behind, but Naruto launched himself upwards to meet two Zabuza clones poised to stab him in vital spots, but Naruto split kicked the two away from him. The two dispelled into water while the remaining came after Naruto. The Jinchuuriki slashed at the one facing him, destroying him into water.

The one on his right slashed his back, Naruto hissed in pain sharply and retaliated with a strike of his own. Then he stabbed at another clone and kicked one clone into another. Finally Naruto was covered with green mako energy and his eyes glowed as he stated, **"Satellite."** He spun in a 360 and a green thin blade erupted from his blade, catching the Zabuza clones on it.

Naruto suddenly smirked, "Hmph." He did a slight tug and the clones were cut from the waist up, making them all dispel. The real Zabuza materialized in front of him and said, "That was pretty clever of you. I think that it is time to end this fight, no more games."

Naruto said, "As you wish, Momochi Zabuza."

Naruto suddenly turned around and slashed at Zabuza, who blocked the slash, but in the end, the katana was slashed in half. The ex-Mist Jonin looked at the broken katana and casted it down in the water along with the broken blade, grasping two hands on his remaining one.

Naruto also placed two hands on Masamune and as the broken hilt disappeared into the depths of the ocean, the two attacked each other, locking in battle. Then they turned back and flew at each other, clashing several times before disappearing and then returning to attacking again.

Finally Zabuza faltered from a second and Naruto charged, clashing against Zabuza, making the demon fall through the air until the both of them crashed into the middle of the bridge.

**Kakashi and Tatsuno-** Tatsuno looked at the glowing saber and said, "W-What? What is that…chakra, it is pure white."

Kakashi said, "This is the reason why my father, Sakumo Hatake was called the White Fang of Konoha. Originally he had two weapons, Shirokami and his tanto, Shirotenshi. During the war, Shirotenshi was broken during the Third Great Shinobi War when I was twelve and a newly appointed Jonin. Ever since then I have never used Shirokami in battle…until now. I believe that now I have to destroy the last remnant of my past. Let's go!" Kakashi charged at Tatsuno, who blocked with Chishikarasu.

Then a crack appeared in the middle of the brown colored sword and Tatsuno 's eyes widened in surprise, he looked into his eyes and saw a deadly glare from Kakashi's eye and his Sharingan…his brother Obito's eye.

Tatsuno said, "Y-You."

Kakashi pushed on the blade, widening the crack further and then Chishikarasu was broken into two pieces and blood sprayed out from Tatsuno's chest. Tatsuno stumbled back as Kakashi cut his thumb with Shirokami and took out a summoning scroll and smeared blood across it, **"Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu!"**

He slammed the scroll into the ground and intricate marking began to etch across the floor. Tatsuno moved backwards only for a dog to pop out and clamped down on his ankles, then another and soon the rest of the pack jumped out of hiding to clamp down on Tatsuno, immobilizing his arms and shoulders.

Kakashi put Shirokami away in his empty scroll and walked toward Tatsuno as he did hand signs. "You wanted to kill me for your brother, but in the end, revenge was all that consumed you. I am trying to save someone from that path or else he will have nothing to live for anymore. Your brother died by my hand with my original jutsu, it was called Chidori. Now I will show you a more powerful version……Raikiri."

Blue lightning erupted from his hand and made a loud shrieking sound. Tatsuno thought, _"That technique…I can see that his chakra is literally visible."_

Kakashi said, "Goodbye, Tatsuno Ishizaki….giving my regards to Ichiro and listen to the sound of your death." Kakashi's legs tensed up and he charged at Tatsuno. The missing Iwa nin thought to himself, _"Heh, funny, I am killed by the same person who killed my brother and to top all off, he is going to kill me with the same jutsu that killed my brother. I guess Onoki-sensei was right, revenge does consume you until you reached the end of the road to realize what you have done. At least, I will see Ichiro-nii-san again….you did well, Kakashi Hatake."_

Kakashi's hand plowed through Tatsuno's chest near his heart and he died with a small smile on his face. The Jonin took out his hand from the dead body and closed his eyes. _"Tatsuno Ishizaki, I see that you have finally realized it…..go to your brother, Ichiro and I hope your journey is eventful."_ Kakashi thought as he pulled down his headband.

He walked over to Sakura and Tazuna to ask, "Are you two alright?"

Sakura nodded and Tazuna said, "A little shaken, but we will be alright."

Sakura said, "I am worried about Sasuke and Naruto."

Kakashi looked down the bridge and said, "Don't worry, Sakura, both of them are strong…I am sure that they will defeat their opponents."

**Sasuke and Haku-** _"Son of a bitch, this is bad."_ Sasuke cursed inwardly. Senbon were sunken into his skin and every time he moved, his body was agitated with pain and due to Haku's meddling jutsu, he had no time to pull them out while he dodged.

"**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"** Sasuke shouted.

The fireball sped across the distance and crashed into the ice, but to Sasuke's dismay, the ice mirror did not melt and only it steamed a bit. _"Damn it, I can't melt these mirrors unless….I use that jutsu. I have not mastered it yet due to seeing Kakashi use it once to burn the Demon Brothers' bodies, but I have to use it now."_ Sasuke moved in the middle and started his jutsu, "Tora…Hebi….Tora. **Suiton: Koku no Jutsu!"**

The Uchiha backed up to the edge of the dome as a small black cloud came down on the ice mirrors.

"What the…" Haku said and Sasuke smirked, **"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" **

Haku thought, _"He won't be able to burn these mirrors…wait, the black rain….is that….oh no."_ The fireball collided with the mirrors and due to the oil on the mirrors had caught on fire. Sasuke knelt down to the ground, panting, "That jutsu….I had to put everything I had into it. I finally…won."

Haku crashed out of the mirror, with her clothes on fire for a moment and when she finished smothering the small flames, Sasuke was able to knock her out. Haku fell to the ground and Sasuke fell back to the ground on his butt, taking deep breaths. _"I have defeated her….I defeated Haku. I have gotten stronger….I am closer to my goal, closer to defeating Naruto and defeating you, Itachi."_ He thought, breathing heavily with a smirk on his face.

**Naruto and Zabuza-** The smoke cleared to reveal Naruto standing tall and his wings were retracted back into his body while Zabuza was kneeling on the ground using the remaining katana to prop himself up. Zabuza laughed, "I lost….funny, I never knew that losing would make me feel human again."

Naruto said nothing, but stared past him. Zabuza turned to see that Gato was here along with a horde of thugs armed to the teeth. "So you were not going to pay me at all, huh?" Zabuza said.

Gato said, "Hell no, you think I would pay you after you failed the first time. You are incompetent, Zabuza. You are not a demon, more like an imp, a baby demon. They say if you want something done, you got to do it yourself. Nukenin are much easier to kill since they have no affiliation with any village, so I will kill you and the other ninja."

Just then Kakashi along with Sakura, Sasuke, an unconscious Haku and Tazuna rushed over to Naruto and Zabuza's position. Kakashi commented, "This is quite a predicament we are in."

Naruto thought, _"Cloud, how much mako I have left to cast a Cure spell?"_

Cloud answered, **"You have enough to cast it once." **

Naruto thought, _"Ok, I will use it on Zabuza and use Ayane's chakra to help me."_

Ayane said, **"Ready when you are, Naruto."**

Naruto concentrated as Ayane sent her chakra into Naruto's system. The Jinchuuriki was shrouded with an orange haze and his eyes shot open. _"What is this foul chakra he has?"_ Zabuza thought.

Kakashi thought in amazement, _"Unbelievable….Naruto can control the fox's chakra?" Sasuke thought, "That power….just how much power does Naruto have?"_

Naruto pointed at Zabuza as he stated, "Cure."

Suddenly Zabuza was refreshed and stood up, "Kid, why did you heal me?"

Naruto said, "Because I figured that you would want to kill Gato before we finish up."

Zabuza hefted his katana, "You never cease to amaze me, Uzumaki. Let's get him."

Naruto nodded and the two of them charged at the horde. Gato was scared and shouted, "Kill those two first, don't let them get to me." He moved toward the back while the thugs looked toward Naruto and Zabuza, who moved toward them.

Naruto reached first and slashed through three thugs, making blood spatter on the rest. Zabuza carved through his opposition, leaving dismembered limbs and decapitated heads behind him. The thugs' morale slowly ebbed away as more bodies dropped through the floor.

The angel and the demon worked together, covering each other as the stupid thugs tried to attack them, praying…hoping that one of them will fall down dead. The two were still standing strong and soon there was only one thug left.

"What are you two?" he asked.

Naruto stabbed Masamune beside his head and said, "Him…he is Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Mist and me, I am Naruto Uzumaki, the Heartless Angel. Now I have only spared your life for one purpose….to tell the events that you witnessed here today, spread my name and what happens to people who oppressed others for their own greed. Now go…or you will face the fate of your master, Gato."

The lone thug cowered in fear and ran back to the ship, Gato tried to follow, but his path was blocked by Naruto and Zabuza. The Jinchuuriki ran the point of his sword through Gato's stomach and lifted him up, "What is this pain that you feel, Gato? I will tell you, this is the pain of the people of Wave. This is the pain of Inari, Tsunami and Tazuna for the loss of their father, husband and son-in-law Kaiza. Allow me to remind you of the pain he felt before he died."

Naruto's wings appeared again as he launched the screaming tyrant into the air. Naruto followed after him and began to stab Gato in various places, he purposefully missed his vital points to make him feel as much pain as possible. Then he launched Gato down to Zabuza, who simply held on his katana out. As Gato fell down, Zabuza's katana ran through his body.

Gato coughed up blood as he was set down and Zabuza twisted his katana to make the wound harder to heal if someone were to have compassion on him. Gato dropped to his knees and then looked up at the sky.

He saw Naruto's form as an angel…an angel of death. Then he looked at Zabuza and saw a silhouette of a demon behind the ex-Mist Jonin. Zabuza raised his sword and beheaded him. Sakura closed her eyes at the sight and buried her face into Sasuke's shoulder, the Uchiha, knowing about her background, let her touch him…..just this once.

Zabuza said, "Ahhhh….nothing but a good bloodbath to get your joints working again."

Naruto floated back down and his wings once again slipped back into his body. "Let's end this, Zabuza Momochi." Naruto said as he held Masamune in a samurai standoff notion.

Zabuza smirked as he followed the same thing, "Heh, always business with you, huh? Fine, then let's continue."

The two stood still in that position for a few more minutes and then ran at each other.

_**(Devil May Cry 3 Soundtrack-Final Boss plays) **_

Time seemed to slow as the two ran at each other, water splashing as they clashed once again. Kakashi, Team 7 and Tazuna watched silently as the two swordsmen battled each other, each strike was aimed at a threat that would kill them, but they would block it at the last second. Naruto stabbed at Zabuza, who parried and returned a strike of his own.

Naruto's cheek was cut, but then the Jinchuuriki was able to slash Zabuza's ankle. Their strikes flew faster and faster, harder and harder. Sparks flew through the air as the swords clashed again and again until the two met in a lock.

They launched themselves into the air and their aerial battle proceeded on. Naruto slashed Zabuza across the chest, then stabbed his right forearm, rendering it useless. Next, he kicked him downwards and Zabuza fell through the ground.

The Mist Demon tried to lift himself up, but Naruto stabbed his left shoulder. Zabuza sighed, "The battle….is over, take my life now, Naruto." Suddenly a teardrop fell down on Zabuza's cheek and he looked to see that Naruto had tears in his eyes. "Kid, don't cry for me." Zabuza said.

Naruto said, "How can I not? You are able to face your death head on. I wanted you to live, Zabuza, I learned so much from you just by fighting you."

Zabuza said, "Don't worry, just do me one favor….protect Haku….protect my daughter with your life and treat her well."

Haku's eyes fluttered open as Zabuza continued, "I want you to make sure that she lives a good life….I have lived my life to the fullest already and don't want her to waste her life trying to save mine. End it now, Naruto Uzumaki….and become the Heartless Angel."

Naruto closed his eyes and opened them back again, "As you wish….goodbye, Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Bloody Mist."

Haku tried to move towards her father figure, but Kakashi caught her and Naruto ran Masamune through Zabuza's heart, granting him his wish. Haku screamed and ran towards Zabuza while Naruto shedded silent tears.

Zabuza slowly turned his head to Haku and reached to caress her face, "Haku…I didn't want you…to see this….I knew that you wouldn't…accept it at all, but this was….the only way….to free you. So….don't blame Naruto for this….I want you to be…happy, go to Konoha….with Naruto…..and live on. This is my last wish."

Haku bowed her head and said, "I…will do as you ask….Father."

Zabuza gave her a soft smile and his eyes closed for the last time. Haku cried for her father, crying on his chest while Naruto's wings stretched out for one last time and the white wing tipped downwards as if it was respecting the man once known as the Demon of the Mist.

One week later, Zabuza and Tatsuno were buried, their katana were stabbed into the earth to mark their presence. Tazuna with the help of Team 7 and Haku Momochi refurnished the bridge after the climactic battle. Naruto and Haku went to Zabuza's grave to give their respects.

For the first three days, Haku wouldn't talk to Naruto and he respected her wishes. He knew that if someone who have killed someone close to him, say the Hokage for example and he knew that person was an ally, he wouldn't talk to him or her either.

Sasuke and Sakura were the same as always, the Uchiha was always training to measure up to Naruto and his brother Itachi while Sakura was swooning over Sasuke. Cloud told Naruto to watch Sasuke careful, noticing the signs of a new Sephiroth on the wings.

Kakashi sat around reading and on occasion, he would visit Tatsuno's grave. As they said their goodbyes to the people of Wave, Tazuna and Inari christened the bridge the Great Naruto Bridge after the hero of Wave.

So one legend ended and in its place, another was born. The Heartless Angel was unleashed and nobody could stop it.


	5. New Challenges

_**Hakureisaiga- Wow, only four chapters and it is already in the double digits….this is awesome! **_

_**Naruto- Indeed it is, Hakurei-san, I wonder what is this chapter about**_

_**Hakureisaiga-Sadly there is no action in this chapter, but the next one will be filled with non-stop sword swinging action, now to answer the reviews**_

_**Bomber68-Thanks for the comment**_

_**Akatsuki-tenshi-kitsune- Thanks**_

_**RANMACAT-Thanks**_

_**Lightning blade49- Thanks for the comment**_

_**Hades252- Yes, Iwa is just misunderstood. Yes, they are angry at the Yellow Flash, but it was war and if another one had showed up, most of the majority in Iwa would do well to avoid it. I am glad that rant came out**_

_**Naknaras- Yes, I know that Sasuke doesn't have one…which is why he was exhausted at the end for that much strain and by the time Haku got out of the mirror, it was covered with burning oil, making her unable to get out to another.**_

_**Godlike-Naruto- It had to be done, but if I make Sasuke fight Haku….which I will, so Sasuke can test his 'power', he will get his ass handed**_

_**Gravity the Wizard-Thank you**_

_**The First Kitsukage- She will be in the harem much to some people's dismay, but I don't give a damn**_

_**Farticus3000-I was happening to listen to it and it reminded me of the emotion between them, so I am glad someone enjoyed it.**_

_**Kazua- I am glad you approve of it**_

**Konoha-** Naruto walked beside Haku while Sasuke and Sakura stood further away from the two. Sasuke was wary of Haku, thinking that she might try to attack him from behind since she was the enemy and Sakura was wary of Haku because she had a one track mind that she was after her Sasuke-kun, but the most important thing is that Naruto seem to be friendly with her and witnessing that he killed mercenaries and Zabuza Momochi without hesitation….well, the mercenaries, but the point was that he would kill them both in an instant if one hair was misplaced on Haku.

As the four of them including Kakashi walked into the premises of the Hokage's Mission Room, Sarutobi looked up and said, "Welcome back, Team 7, I trust that your mission was easy and bearable…who is this?"

Kakashi said, "This mission report explains everything….you see, we were moving toward Nami, when I noticed a genjutsu….a puddle on the side of the road on a sunny day. I knew that there were ninja in the road, but I don't know if they were after the client or us, so I pretended to be caught in their trap and watched from a distance. Naruto noticed the genjutsu and dispatched one of the Demon Brothers, he also revealed that he knew something was up with the client due to his expressions, but he had to confirm them. Due to democracy, we decided to move on….then we encountered Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Mist, I was about to fight him….but Naruto asked permission to fight with him. I relented and Naruto was able to take down Zabuza using techniques unique to him. After that, this girl…an apprentice of Zabuza's tried to take him away, but Naruto caught her and forced her to tell about her life story. After listening, Naruto released her and offered Zabuza and Haku to join our village. Haku was uncertain, but Zabuza chose to fight for his freedom and pride as a swordsman. Meanwhile, the one who was trying to kill our client with the nukenin, Gato of Gato Industries hired another nukenin, Tatsuno Ishizaki to help. Apparently I was the one who killed his brother back in the Third Great Shinobi War, so he held a grudge against me and the Yondaime. So after a week, Naruto, Sasuke and I fought Zabuza, Haku and Tatsuno while Sakura protected Tazuna, the client. Sasuke and I defeated Haku and Tatsuno while Naruto was still finishing up his battle, then Gato and a horde of mercenaries came in. When Gato threatened to kill us and take Sakura and Haku as his slaves, both Zabuza and Naruto went berserk and killed all of the mercenaries except one, then they moved on to Gato and Naruto flew up in the air with a pair of black and white wings coming out of his back, stabbing Gato. Then he let Gato fall and impale himself on Zabuza's sword…after that, Zabuza and Naruto finished their fight, his last wish was to have Haku return here and Naruto to protect her from harm."

Sarutobi was surprised to say the least as he looked at Naruto, _"He is so calm about this too, despite his praise from Kakashi and defeating Zabuza in combat. He even killed at a young age and so many too, despite them being thugs."_ Sarutobi said, "Very well, Naruto, I will accommodate you with a new house since your apartment is too small to fit for two people."

Naruto nodded and Sarutobi tossed him the deed and keys to the house, knowing well who it used to belong to. "Alright, Team 7, you will be on temporary leave until two weeks from now."

Sasuke thought, _"Good, I can train and use the time to figure out Naruto's mysterious power."_

Sakura thought, _"Yes, I can finally fix my face, nails, eyelashes, makeups, toes, etc."_

Naruto thought, "_I guess I could train for a while…but I gonna have to use the time to interact with Haku."_

Sarutobi said, "You all are dismissed." Everyone left the room to go to do what they always do.

**Naruto and Haku-** The two walked inside the house and Naruto immediately asked, "Haku?"

The ice user answered, "Yes?"

The Jinchuuriki said, "Are you angry with me….for killing Zabuza?"

Haku bit her lip and answered, "A little, yes….but Zabuza-tou-san wanted to do it, I saw it in his eyes….he knew that his time was up and he knew that his pride would not let him back out. I cried the day he told me about his decision and I was going to try and kill you, but when I saw your face and when you called me beautiful, I realized that I couldn't do it….no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't kill you. But you tried to let Zabuza-tou-san to back out and he wouldn't, you even shed tears for him….so I'm glad that I am here with you."

Naruto smiled, "I see, I would have done the same thing if you happen to kill someone close to me. In a sense, we both need each other to support each other….the things that we have in common are that the death of Zabuza has affected us both and that we had similar lifestyles. A burden was thrust upon us and we were shunned because of the things that they feared."

Haku said, "What is your burden? Your wings?"

Naruto shook his head, "No, since you are not part of Konoha yet and I trust you, I will speak of my burden. 13 years ago, a battle was fought in Konoha….the village was losing badly because of one thing….that was the Kyuubi no Kitsune, it attacked out of nowhere as if it had been summoned. The Yondaime Hokage was able to stop it, but by doing so, he had to condemn two lives….his own life to make the jutsu work since it summoned the Shinigami and another life, a small child who would become the jailor of the Kyuubi, a Jinchuuriki. That child was me and somehow people knew my status and I was beaten, shunned and hated for it. When I became four years old, I met the Kyuubi and found out the reason behind it all. The Kyuubi was controlled….by a person named Madara Uchiha. He was supposed to be dead, but somehow gained immortality….therefore it is my solemn word that I will fight and kill the one who put this burden on me."

Haku was shocked at Naruto's burden….she was never beaten, but to do that to a child was unspeakable. How Naruto survived the ordeal to become a gentle pacifist who fought and kill when necessary was beyond her. "And to make matters worse, Madara Uchiha is the one who made my father, the Yondaime had to kill himself using that Kinjutsu to put this seal on my stomach." Naruto said as he unzipped his vest to show the scars and the seal.

Haku fought the urge to throw up as she saw the grotesque scars etched all over his chiseled chest. She said, "Your father was the Yondaime?"

Naruto nodded, "Yes, he was….it was obvious when I compared my looks to his picture. He wished to see me as a hero, but instead I was treated like a pariah and the family who ancestor was the cause of all this has everything handed to him on a silver platter."

Haku said, "Naruto, I…how did you survive this?"

Naruto gave her a soft smile, "That is easy, I had friends….to hide my true strength, I acted like a fool, an idiot that craves attention…I even went to dress in that orange jumpsuit that you see over there. The Hokage was the first one to accept me, then came Teuchi and Ayame-chan, then Iruka-sensei and finally Hinata-chan. She was the one who admires my strength and my mask, the will to never give up. Although it went along with my mask, I still have that will. You, Haku, have a similar situation like mine….we both had to survive by getting street smarts until someone started to care. Now as your father did for you, I will do the same in his honor. I will protect you with my life, Haku Momochi."

Haku said to herself, _"Naruto-kun….I see, you have so much heart….larger than any of us. I understand now, Tou-san, you were the first to realize this strength of his. He was shunned for being a jail and yet he still wants to protect his friends despite of his status."_

She hugged Naruto, "Naruto, I…"

The Jinchuuriki said, "Haku-chan, actions speak louder than words…" He hugged her back and said, "Thank you."

Haku blushed at her new nickname, but Naruto didn't see it. "Now let's get you some clothes and new weapons as well, then we will have you register as a combat medic ninja and you can work at the hospital." He said.

Haku nodded, not trusting her voice and the two took off. They first stopped into the Higarashi shop and stepped in, "This is the Higarashi shop where the best weapons and shinobi attire are made." Naruto said to her, "Senbon, kunai, zanbatou, katana, you name it…they got it."

A rugged man with three scars running from his cheek to his jawbone came in, "Oh, Naruto, you are back…and I see that you have a girlfriend already too. Nice choice."

Both Naruto and Haku blushed a bit as Naruto said, "Haku-chan is just a friend, if she wants to be more….then we will see if we can work things out, Ryushi-san."

Ryushi said, "All right then, I am assuming that you are looking for something for Haku-chan?"

Naruto said, "Correct, I will let Haku choose her own clothes and weapons. After all, this is her shopping and I am just paying for it."

Ryushi said, "Okay, just let me know when you are going to pay."

Naruto nodded and ushered Haku away to the women's section and Haku tried on some outfits, mostly some dark blue and gray clothes. The one that she insisted that she would wear was a long sleeve dark blue turtleneck shirt and she had standard Jonin pants only they were black and she had black tape wrapped around her ankles.

The pants showed every aspect of her feminity, then she asked Ryushi if she could have something special made….a leather jacket that had the Momochi name on the back and the shoulder of the right arm have a snowflake. Ryushi nodded and then she took 30 packs of senbon off the pack and she fell in love with a white sword.

Naruto bought the clothing and weapons while Haku named her sword…..she named it Hakureisaiga _**(A/N: Translation-White Spirit Fang)**_ The sword was completely white with a teal blue tassel at the end. Ryushi explained that the sword was sentient and responds to her chakra type, if she was a fire type…then she would be able to make fire-nature chakra blasts at her opponent.

Now imagine wind, water and ice chakra blasts being fired from her sword. She wore it on her back just like her father did long ago, Naruto thanked Ryushi and walked out of the store. Next, they went to a formal clothing store in case Haku went out with someone or some friends of hers.

She bought an ice blue dress, a sleeveless black dress, a white dress that complemented her white dress and a kimono that had white snowflakes embroidered all over and a cerulean blue was under the falling flakes.

Then they moved to the Hokage's office to register her as a combat medical ninja with the Hokage's seal on it, after that, Naruto escorted her to the hospital while he sent the Kage Bunshins with her stuff back to the house and got her a job. People began to stare at them as they walked inside the hospital.

Naruto said, "Hello, doctor-san, the Hokage would like this lady here to get a job since she will be a combat medical ninja."

The doctor nodded and called a nurse to help her get situated, then Naruto threatened the doctor, "Look, I know that you don't like me because of the Kyuubi…yes, I know about my burden. So listen good, if you dare try to hurt her in any shape or form, I will kill your family in front of your eyes and feed their insides to you before you die, got it?" the boy said.

The doctor nodded his head quickly and Naruto said, "Okay, then I will be leaving. Good day to you, doctor-san. I pray that we will never meet again."

Naruto met Haku after she got a tour of the hospital and then Naruto gave her a tour of the village….Ichiraku Ramen, the barbeque shop, the training grounds, the Ninja Academy, the hotels, the library and the Hokage Monument, all the while knowing that Sarutobi was watching them along with an ANBU patrol that was tailing them.

After they toured the village, then the two went home and eat dinner with Naruto cooking. Haku was surprised at his culinary skills and Naruto offered her to teach her some more since she was the cook between Zabuza and herself.

Naruto cooked stir-fry using bits of steak and fish in the pot, yellow rice with onions and he made homemade lemonade for them to drink. Then he showed Haku to her room and where the bathroom is since he made his Kage Bunshin explore the house as they dropped off the bags of clothes and weapons.

The two went to bed and soon Naruto drifted off to sleep. In the middle of the night, it started to rain and there was a soft knock on Naruto's door. Naruto woke up instantly and had a kunai hidden in his sleeve. He opened the door a crack to see Haku in front of the door.

"Haku-chan….you can't sleep." He asked.

Haku nodded, "I don't like thunderstorms, and they remind me of my home in the Mist. There were a lot of storms back in my village. Can I stay here tonight?"

Inside his head, Ayane was laughing at Naruto while Cloud along with Sephiroth were impassive about it. Naruto said, "Sure, Haku-chan, you can." Ayane shut her mouth and started to rant about ice bitches trying to seduce her vessel.

He opened the door, revealing Haku's attire, which was a nightgown that was a bit see-through. Naruto went to bed and Haku followed after him, sleeping with her back to him. Naruto saw her jump a bit as the thunder cracked a bit. He wrapped his arms around her waist, making her relax and he heard her breathing slowed a bit and she slipped into his embrace as she drifted off to sleep. Naruto soon drifted off to sleep as the smell of her hair laced with vanilla made him drift off to sleep.

The next morning, Naruto woke up with the sun piercing through the blinds. "Damn the sun!" Naruto thought. He looked to see Haku wrapped in his arms using his chest as a pillow and he felt her right leg was in between his own and rubbing against something everyone knows damn well what it was.

The Jinchuuriki thought, _"Well, this is quite a predicament that I am in."_

He silently made a sealless Kage Bunshin and then he replaced himself with it. Haku shifted a bit and snuggled closer to the clone, making it blush a bit. Naruto moved down to cook breakfast for both of them after he took a cold shower since Haku unintentionally gave him morning wood. After he was finished with breakfast, he sat in the chair and read the prologue of LOVELESS, _'__When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end, the goddess descends from the sky, Wings of light and dark spread afar__, __she guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting.'_

Just then Haku came in and Naruto said, "Oh, Haku-chan, you are awake?"

Haku said, "Oh,g-good morning, N-Naruto-kun."

Naruto thought, "I see, she is not used to me calling her that yet."

Haku said, "Ano, N-Naruto-kun?"

Naruto said, "Yes, Haku-chan?"

Haku said, "I wanted to…thank you for allowing me to stay with you last night."

The Jinchuuriki replied, "No problem, Haku-chan…when we are through with breakfast, I was wondering if I could introduce you to some of my friends. I am sure that you and Hinata-chan will be great friends when you two meet."

Haku said, "That is fine….what was that book that you were reading?"

Naruto said, "Oh, this? It is titled LOVELESS, but the author is unknown. I don't know why but I like it and I think that is somehow it refers to me."

Haku said, "It sounds beautiful and tragic at the same time."

Naruto said, "So it seems…anyway let's eat and then we can go see my friends."

Training Ground 10- Naruto and Haku walked together to find the typical sight of Team 10, which was Shikamaru lying on the ground, looking at the clouds, Choji doing the same with chips in his hand and Ino trying to motivate the two to train.

Naruto smirked, "I think you three should train or else somebody might just beat you up."

Ino turned her head to see Naruto and said, "Naruto?"

The Jinchuuriki said, "Yo."

The Yamanaka looked at him, "When did you change into that?"

Naruto said, "You weren't paying attention? I changed when on the day of the graduation exam…or you were probably too caught up when I questioned Sasuke's sexual preferences." Ino's cheeks burn in embarrassment and she tried to punch Naruto in the head, but the Jinchuuriki stopped it with two fingers. "And as always your taijutsu is still weak…but enough about that, I would like you to meet my friend Haku Momochi. She just recently moved to Konoha with us on our last mission."

Haku bowed and said, "It is a pleasure to meet you all."

Naruto said, "Haku, the lazy boy with the ponytail is Shikamaru Nara, don't underestimate him….since he is a freaking genius. The plump boy is Choji Akimichi, he loves to eat, but he is loyal to his friends to a fault and he has the biggest heart. The one in front of me is Ino Yamanaka, one of Sasuke's fangirls. She is also bossy and assertive…."

Ino growled at him for insulting her and Naruto continued, "But she is very kind and outspoken, she is second to Sakura in intelligence."

Ino blinked, "Did you just insult me and compliment me in the same sentence?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Yes, is that a problem?"

Ino said, "I don't know whether to hit you or say thank you."

Naruto smirked at her, "I am pretty sure you can't do the first one, so you can try the second one."

Ino said, "Why you…."

Naruto dodged backwards while he moved toward Haku, "Anyway we have to go….I will see you all later and Shikamaru….expect a Shogi match sometime." Naruto did a Leaf Shunshin with Haku close to his waist.

Ino said, "That Naruto….I will never understand him at all."

Then she thought, _"Though he is quite strong for a so-called dead last and he seems more mature too."_

**Training Ground 8-** Hinata was watching as Kiba and Akamaru played around while Shino took the time to explore and look for more species. Then Naruto along with Haku popped up, "Hey, Hinata-chan."

Hinata jumped and said, "Naruto-kun, don't do that."

Naruto smiled, "Ah, gomen, gomen, I was in a bit of a hurry….it is quite serious when a blonde with an anger problem closer to Haruno's tries to punch you."

Hinata noticed Haku and looked at his hand on her waist, "Naruto-kun, who is this?" Naruto said, "Oh, where are my manners? This is Haku Momochi, she just recently moved to Konoha with us when my team was on our last mission."

Hinata said, "It is nice to meet you, Haku-san."

Haku said, "Likewise, Hinata-san."

Just then Kiba and Akamaru came up to them, "Oh, hey, Naruto….who is this girl?" the dog boy said with a feral grin. Naruto said, "This is my friend Haku Momochi, she just moved to Konoha recently and I would kindly ask you to keep your eyes level to her head, Kiba."

Kiba was a bit embarrassed being caught by Naruto and Haku felt a bit violated that she was being checked out. Naruto then reached behind his hear and saw a beetle on Naruto's finger, he sent chakra into the beetle and it flew off to find Shino.

A few minutes later, Shino came out from the woods and Naruto said, "You know, Shino, you could just say hello instead of planting a beetle on my neck to identify me."

Shino said, "You can't be too careful, Naruto. There is a chance that people might try to impersonate you."

Naruto said, "I doubt that highly, Shino. In order for them to do that, they would have to take me out….and I am very hard to kill. Anyway….this is my friend Haku Momochi."

Shino said, "Aburame Shino…it is a pleasure to meet you. Where did you meet her?"

Naruto said, "She is a refugee from the Mist….she was trying to escape the carnage in the Mist, so we happened to take her to Konoha."

Shino said, "Really now?" He glanced at Hinata, who was a bit worried about her crush and this new girl. "Well, then I wish you the best of luck, Haku."

Haku said, "Likewise, Shino-san."

Naruto said, "Well, we will be going now….goodbye….I will see you later, Hinata-chan." He took Haku away and Hinata had a worried look on her face, _"Does she like Naruto-kun? Do I have a chance against her? Sakura was bad enough, but now Haku-san too."_

Shino thought, _"This is bad….now Hinata's confidence is going down by that performance, I hope Naruto sets her straight before this happens."_

Now for the rest of the two weeks, Naruto spent his time with Haku and Hinata…sometimes both together. Naruto helped Haku with Zabuza's kenjutsu style since he was the one who seen it to the fullest and Haku filled in the blanks from her memories.

Hinata was helped with her taijutsu and often sparred against Naruto, who spared her no mercy against her in order to improve. Naruto's unique style was comprised of ancient taijutsu such as Muay Thai, Aikido and Cloud taught him a bit of his friend Tifa Lockhart's moves and usually Hinata would have all sorts of bruises, but she got better over time and Naruto would use his Cure Materia to heal her.

Soon Team 7 started back up again and Haku worked at the hospital….no one dared to mess with Haku as Naruto's fresh threat still hung in the air. As Naruto spent time with Team 7, he started to let Sasuke and Sakura handle the missions and hang in the shadows, infuriating Sasuke for not getting any strong guys to test his skill and the fact that he could never find Naruto or the place where he trained at.

He would ask Hinata, but he wouldn't stoop low to interact with a Hyuga. The Uchiha and the Hyuga were at odds with each other for terms of strength and Haku was nowhere to be found when needed. Sakura noticed the frustration in her crush and immediately knew that Naruto was involved with it.

After the mission, Kakashi voiced, "Our teamwork seems to be lacking a bit."

Sakura said, "It is because of Naruto…he never wants to socialize with us."

The Jinchuuriki said nothing and Kakashi said, "That might be true, but he is only part of the problem. You two don't socialize with him either…..mainly Sasuke wants to figure out Naruto's training method and Sakura, you could care less about him because all you focus on is Sasuke."

Sasuke's face burned as he had been found out and Sakura had the decency to look sheepish. Naruto said, "What? You didn't think I knew that you were trying to find me. Your chakra signature is unique to me since I have been around you for some time and the reason I don't socialize with either of you is because you two never bother to befriend me at all…hell, your ex-best friend Ino talked to me when she was little, just not that much since she is lusting after Sasuke. Sakura, when I had that mask on, you instantly went with the crowd…..you belittle and insulted me for being below you in grades and performance. Sasuke….after the massacre, you never bother with anyone, just sat in the corner with your hands interlaced and a permanent scowl on your face. When anyone tried to befriend or even associate you, you would turn them away because they were below you or believe that they weren't a challenge at all. I used the mask for personal reasons of my own…to see who I can trust and who I can't….you two are the primary candidates. Unless Sakura grows some breasts and act like a real kunoichi and if Sasuke stops thinking about revenge with his one-track mind, then I can't work with them. That is my decision about this matter."

Kakashi noticed an eagle circling overhead, "Ok, that is it for today, I have to submit the report for today's mission." The Jonin did a hand sign and poofed away while Naruto walked away, Sasuke and Sakura tried to follow him, but when they got to the corner, he vanished.

Sasuke and Sakura moved toward Naruto's apartment, forgetting that Naruto got a new house. Then Naruto silently dropped out of the tree and noticed a square box with eye holes in it. The boy sighed and kicked the box over, "Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon….this is not how you hide yourselves...a rock is supposed to be bumpy, not like a box."

Konohamaru said, "Just what I expected from my rival."

The story goes when Konohamaru barges into the office to attack the Hokage, he tripped on his scarf…when he looked around, Naruto has walked in to talk Sarutobi and ultimately Konohamaru accused him of tripping him.

Naruto tried to reason with the boy, but he was stubborn like his name and ended up knocking Konohamaru in his head. Next, Konohamaru decided to follow Naruto to get training from him and Naruto agreed, noticing that Konohamaru was like his mask.

Therefore Naruto went to the library and taught him Muay Thai, knowing that Sarutobi-jii-san would teach him the Monkey fighting style, but then Ebisu, Konohamaru's mentor, found them and tried to take Konohamaru back, but the boy put to use his brief training and landed a hit on his mentor. Naruto decided to step in and showed Konohamaru the proper move.

Ebisu charged at Naruto and sent a kick at Naruto, who grabbed it and knee the sole, making the foot dislocate, then he dragged Ebisu's leg back on his shoulder making him do a split and Ebisu was put in the hospital for a few days.

"Umm, Naruto, are you free?" Moegi asked timidly.

Naruto smiled, "Yes, what game would you like to play today?"

Then Sakura said, "So you would play ninja rather than socialize with us?"

Naruto said, "It beats listening to your voice and Sasuke's ranting." Sakura became angered and punched Naruto in the face, but Naruto didn't move an inch. "Moegi-chan, if there is a cute boy in the Academy, don't focus on him instead focus on becoming a real kunoichi like Hinata-chan or you will become like this….weak and misguided."

Sakura's anger skyrocketed and Konohamaru along with Moegi and Udon cowered behind Naruto and then Sakura threw a kunai at Naruto to scare him. Naruto shifted his head to the side. Then a cry of pain shouted out and Naruto turned to see a guy with make-up on his face like a kabuki and a cat-like suit along a four pig-tailed blond with a bit of muscle and a large fan on her back.

The boy was clutching his arm and Naruto noticed that Sakura's kunai had scraped his arm. "You little brats….which one of you did that?" the boy asked angrily.

Naruto said, "The children have nothing to do with this."

The boy said, "One of those little fuckers scratched my arm!"

The girl said, "You are worried over a scratch, Kankuro? Let it be."

Kankuro said, "Shut up, Temari…one of them is going to…." He didn't finish his sentence since Naruto had First Tsurugi in his hand in front of Kankuro's face. "Kankuro-san, listen to the pretty lady beside you. Oh, and tell your friend to come down….you too, Sasuke." Naruto said dangerously.

Suddenly a red-head appeared beside Temari and Sasuke jumped down. Kankuro backed away from Naruto's First Tsurugi and then Naruto took it and hefted it over his shoulder. "Now, Temari-san, is it?" Naruto asked the blond.

The girl nodded and Naruto introduced himself, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I am honored to meet your acquaintance. Seeing that you are the level-headed one of the group, can you explain why your team is here?"

Temari said, "You don't know? The Chunin Exams are about to begin and it is taking place here in Konoha."

Naruto said, "Ah, that would explain everything."

Sasuke said, "What is the Chunin Exam?"

Naruto stated, "It is an exam to promote genin to the next level of responsibility…chunin. Chunin can command other genin and they must have tactical prowess and leadership. Strong ninja from each village come to strengthen their ties and show their country's strength."

Naruto added in his thoughts, "_It also means that I can get off this team and do solo missions or group work with others." _

The red-head spoke, "You two…the blond and the black-haired one…what are your names?"

Sasuke said, "Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruto said, "Naruto Uzumaki."

The red-head said, "My name is Gaara of the Desert, I will look forward to seeing you two in the exams."

Naruto nodded and said to Temari, "It was nice meeting you, Temari-san. I would look forward to see you soon." Temari blushed as she nodded and walked away with Kankuro and Gaara.

Konohamaru said, "Boss…how the hell do you do that?"

Naruto said, "What?"

Konohamaru said, "Get that girl to blush? I mean, you didn't even know her and she just turns red."

Naruto said, "You just have to be yourself and be polite…..I teach you about this when you are older. Besides if I am not careful with you, you might be making Moegi-chan blush." Both Konohamaru and Moegi blushed and looked away from each other as Naruto chuckled at them.

Udon looked at the two and Naruto smiled, "Don't worry, Udon, I will teach you too. You just got to be more active." Naruto went with the three Academy students, who were pestering him with questions. Sakura thought, _"Is it me or Naruto tends to be more relaxed around children?"_ She and Sasuke followed them and then after that, the three ninjas in a nearby tree jumped down. Their headband had a musical symbol on the middle and the black-haired kid asked, "What do you think?"

The bandaged one said, "Nothing serious, but the blond, the black-haired ninja and the one with the gourd are the ones to be careful around."

Then a voice said, "I hope you three are not planning something." The three looked up to see Naruto hanging upside down over them, "Or I am going to have to subdue the three of you….but first, names?"

The black-haired nin questioned, "Why should we give you our names?"

Naruto said, "Because the fact that I just came here undetected….I could have killed you three in moments, but I am letting you live because of the exams. Now back to my statements, names?"

The bandaged one said, "Kinuta Dosu."

The black haired boy said, "Abumi Zaku."

The girl said, "Tsuchi Kin."

Naruto said, "Golden, eh? Pretty name….well, you three already know my name, so I look forward to seeing you in the exams…and oh, if you think about killing Sasuke, I won't be merciful to you three." The three nodded vigorously since Naruto's killing intent and glowing eyes helped the matter. Then the boy poofed away since he was a Kage Bunshin.

The next day, Kakashi announced that he had recommended them for the Chunin Exams. Naruto instantly knew that the exams would force them to work together as a team, which was part of the reason why Kakashi recommended them for it.

Naruto instantly signed his and he knew that Sasuke would too, but Sakura….he had a hunch that she was in conflict with herself. She wanted to go to impress Sasuke, but didn't have the necessary skills to survive in the exam.

Either way, it didn't matter…he could wait until the next time and it wasn't like Madara Uchiha was going to show any time soon. The next day, Naruto was surprised to see Sakura, but her face showed that she was still unsure about the exam.

Sasuke noticed it too, so when they walked inside to see the genjutsu on the wall, the Uchiha took the time to boost up her confidence by telling the genin that she was the first to notice the genjutsu. This is when they met Rock Lee and Neji Hyuga. Rock Lee was the dead-last from last year and Neji Hyuga was last year's Rookie of the Year.

The girl was named Tenten and she was admiring Naruto's First Tsurugi, that he had in the holster. Next, Lee chose to fight Sasuke. To Naruto's amusement, Sasuke got his ass kicked, but to his dismay, Sasuke was able to activate his Sharingan during the battle, making things difficult for Naruto and his collection of jutsu.

After that, they proceeded upstairs to go to take the test…they opened the door and Team 7 along with others took their steps into the world of new challenges called the Chunin Exams.

_**Hakureisaiga- The Chunin Exams begin…and evil lurks in every shadow. Naruto must be wary or a poisonous bite may affect everything that threatens his life, his home and his friends. **_


	6. The Bite of the Viper

_**Hakureisaiga- I'm back with another chapter and it is extra long just for you guys. Review answering time**_

_**VFSNAKE- True, but the Kyuubi can do so much…**_

_**Deadw8- Please, there will be a cold day in hell before that happens**_

_**Supremebandit- You should know, Orochimaru, I am sure that he will find some random ninja in his ranks that is expendable**_

_**Lightning Blade49- Yeah**_

_**Overlord Revan- Both, but he is just being honest**_

_**Nakajima Hayate- I think against Shukaku would be a good choice or using Bahamut against it maybe**_

_**To everyone else, thanks for the review…now read.**_

"SASUKE-KUN!!!" Ino shouted as she glomped Sasuke and Sakura as usual started a shouting match against her former best friend.

Naruto said, "Ino-san, Sakura, can you two please keep your voices down? You are making a scene."

Shikamaru came up, "You are taking this stupid test too? Don't die!"

Naruto smirked, "Shouldn't we be saying that, Shikamaru?"

Ino said, "Hey, Naruto, where did you get that sword, isn't it heavy?"

Naruto said, "No, I had a lot of training, so I could use it….I can practically swing this like it was a stick."

Ino said, "How much does it weigh?

Naruto said nonchalantly, "100 kilograms?"

Ino said, "W-What? 100 kg?"

Naruto said, "Yeah, it is not that big of a deal." Then Kiba shouted, "Yahoo, found you! Well, it seems that the Rookie Nine are back together again."

Shikamaru said, "You too?"

Kiba said, "I wonder how far we will get, eh, Sasuke?"

Sasuke replied, "You seem pretty confident, Kiba."

Kiba said, "Of course, we did a lot of training, we won't lose to you."

Naruto said, "Careful, arrogance and confidence walk side by side, you can teeter on either side and be destroyed."

Kiba said, "You should take your own advice….you can't beat me, Naruto despite that big cleaver on your back."

Naruto said, "You have no idea what I can do, Kiba….a lot has changed in three months."

Suddenly a new voice appeared, "Hey, you guys, you should be a bit quieter. You guys are rookies alright, screaming like little schoolgirls. This is not a picnic."

Ino said, "Who do you think that you are?"

The boy said, "I am Kabuto Yakushi and to prove my point, you should look behind you." Everyone looked to see a team of pissed off Ame team, but Naruto turned to look at them and the Ame genin suddenly turned away.

Kabuto thought, _"Hmm….interesting."_ Then the genin said, "You remind me of how I used to be…."

Sakura said, "Umm, Kabuto-san, right? Is this your second time?"

Kabuto said, "Nope, this is my seventh time. The exam is held twice a year, so this is my fourth time taking it."

Sakura said, "So that means you know a lot about this exam."

Kabuto nodded and pulled out a deck of cards, "Naturally and since you are rookies, I will share my info with my ninja info cards."

Sakura said, "Ninja info cards?"

Kabuto explained, "They are basically cards that have information burned on them with chakra. I have four years of information….over 200 cards." Kabuto drew a card that appeared blank as he said, "They might appear blank, but to open the info on the cards…is to use your chakra and they only respond to your chakra only."

The card revealed a graph and Ino said, "Wow, it's really easy to read graph, what kind of info is this?"

Kabuto answered, "This is the number of teams that are taking this exam and a breakdown of what country they hail from."

Naruto glanced at it and thought, _"So there are 10 teams from Suna, 7 teams from Ame, 2 teams from Grass, 29 teams from Konoha and 1 team from Oto."_

Sasuke asked, "Do you have information on individuals?"

Kabuto said, "Oh? There are some guys that you are worried about? Of course…the information on all the exam's participants are not perfect, but I do have it. Even you guys, but I will say something about them and take a look."

Sasuke said, "Sabaku no Gaara…..Rock Lee of Konoha…….and Uzumaki Naruto."

Kiba thought, _"What has got Sasuke so worked up about Naruto?"_

Kabuto said, "You know their names, then this should be easy." Kabuto drew three cards and Sasuke said, "Show me." Kabuto said, "Ok, first is Rock Lee, he is a year older than you guys and has completed 20 D-rank and 12 C-rank missions. His sensei is Might Gai, his taijutsu has greatly improved over the year, but he has seem to have no ninjutsu or genjutsu. Last year he gained attention as a new genin, but didn't participate in the last exam. His teammates are Neji Hyuga and Tenten."

Kabuto drew the second card, "Next is Sabaku no Gaara, there is not a lot of information on him since he is new and a foreigner. He has completed 8 C-rank missions and….wow, a B-rank. It has been said that from all of his missions, he has come back from every single one without a scratch."

Kabuto drew the last card, "Finally is Naruto Uzumaki……holy shit, are you serious? He has completed 15 D-rank, 1 B-rank, 1 A-rank…..he has a nickname called the Heartless Angel and it is rumored when he kills, wings of black and white appeared from his back. He has killed A-Rank nukenin Zabuza Momochi, formerly from Kiri. His kenjutsu is extraordinary, his taijutsu and genjutsu….there are no information on it. He has shown that he can do a B-rank ninjutsu, also he has killed over 100 mercenaries along with Zabuza Momochi including Gato of Gato Incorporated."

The Rookie Nine looked at Naruto in a mix of fear and respect, then Naruto said, "What? I did what I had to do….plus Gato was pissing me off, so I killed him."

Kiba said, "Y-You killed an A-Rank nukenin….by yourself?"

Naruto said, "Yes."

Kiba thought, _"Note to self: Stay away from Naruto with his sword."_

Kabuto said, "Everyone here from the various countries are here to take the exam and filled with talented youngsters."

Hinata said, "M-Makes you lose confidence."

Sakura said, "So the ones who are here…."

Kabuto answered, "Yup, like Gaara, Lee and Naruto….they are all the top elite genin from their reigning country."

Naruto said, "Tch, please....it all depends on your brain and your skill….and by the looks of this, some of the people here are pretty stupid especially the ones who are trying to stare me down." Naruto looked at the crowd to see that some of the people, mostly from Konoha were wilting under Naruto's gaze.

Suddenly a voice shouted out, "Quiet down, you worthless bastards!!!"

The genin said, "What is this?"

Suddenly a man with scars on his face dressed in a black trenchcoat appeared with various chunin behind him. Naruto smirked as he thought, _"Ibiki Morino, the Mind Surgeon…..this sounds interesting."_

Ibiki said with a smirk, "Thanks for waiting, I am Ibiki Morino, the first examiner for the Chunin Selection Exam." Some of the genin were unnerved at the sight of the man and the glare in his eyes. "First rule….there will be no fighting during the exam without permission of the examiner. Even I give you permission, killing is not tolerated. If you don't follow those rules, you will be failed immediately….do I make myself clear?"

The genin said nothing, but Naruto smiled and saluted Ibiki, the examiner saw this and smirked at Naruto, _"This kid is not afraid of my intimidation acts….I will have fun cracking this kid."_ Then the proctor said, "We will now start the first phase of the Chunin Exams. Instead of your current seating arrangements, you will pick up one of these tabs and sit in the seat assigned to you, then we will hand out the exams."

The chunins behind him lifted up papers in their hands, soon everyone was seated appropriately and Naruto, by chance, happened to sit by Tenten and Hinata. Tenten whispered, "Is that true….that you killed Zabuza Momochi, one of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist. He is said to be the second strongest of the seven."

Naruto said, "Yes, but to honor him….I left his sword at his burial site and placed a seal on the sword….nobody can ever get the sword unless I will it…..Zabuza was one of the toughest opponents that I have faced. Now let's do our best, Tenten, Hinata."

Hinata said, "Right…"

Naruto smirked at Hinata and she said, "What….what is with the smirk, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto said, "You are not stuttering, Hinata-chan."

Hinata said, "What….wait, you are right…."

Naruto said, "Good, now we just got to get your confidence up too."

Hinata thought, "_My confidence is always up around you, Naruto-kun."_

Ibiki said, "Don't turn your test over just yet, listen closely….there are many important rules to the test, I will write it out the board while I explain and no questions will be allowed."

Sakura said, "Rules? No questions allowed?"

Ibiki said, "First rule, you all start off with 10 points and since there are 10 questions on the test, each question is worth one point. You miss one, you have 9 left. Second rule, this is a team test….whether you pass or fail depends on the combined score of your teammates. So each team will compete to see how many points they can hold on to up to 30. Third rule, during this test, if anyone….and I mean, anyone is caught cheating will have 2 points deducted for every offense. So there will be some that will lose their points and be asked to leave."

Kotetsu said from the corner, "We have our eyes on you guys."

The genin began to fidget and Ibiki said, "Realize that the pathetic ones caught cheating will be destroying themselves. As shinobi trying to be chunin, be proud ninjas." Ibiki said, "Now the final rule….those that lose all of their points and those who don't answer questions correctly will be failed along with their 2 teammates."

Sasuke thought, _"What?"_

Sakura thought, _"What did he say?"_

Naruto thought, _"Hmph….based on my 'academic' skills, I sense that Sasuke and Sakura have not learned that I had a mask for the Academy."_

Ibiki said, "The exam will last for one hour….Begin!"

Naruto looked at the paper and smirked, _"Well, now…I guess I have to thank Mizuki for doing something useful….all of these questions were the same ones that he gave me….I can answer these without thinking."_

Sephiroth said, **"Good thing for your photographic memory."**

Naruto said, _"Plus even if I didn't know about the questions….Ibiki gave me an opening….that I can cheat in the open. Sure, I lose 2 points, but he gave us exactly 5 chances to cheat. Plus we are fricking ninjas, we are supposed to be all about deception and hiding in the shadows."_

Cloud said, **"But you are an honorable swordsman at heart."**

Naruto said, _"I am a ninja swordsman with standards that are honorable. I will stab people in the back unless they attempt to do it first. Sasuke with his Sharingan will probably copy someone's pencil movements and Sakura is a fricking bookworm, so she is fine."_

Naruto noticed that Gaara used his sand to blind a chunin and a eye made out of sand looked over his test, Hinata and Neji were using their Byakugan, Tenten used the mirrors to get the answers from her and Lee. He knew that Ino was a Yamanaka and if he was correct, she would use Sakura or some bookworm to get the answers and transfer the answers to Choji. Shikamaru would use his brain to answer them and probably sleep for the rest of the hour. Some of the genin have been kicked out every five minutes, then one random genin from Suna said, "Do you have proof that I have cheated 5 times? Are you guys all watching…"

Then one of the chunin grabbed the boy and slammed him in the wall, "Listen, among the chunin we are the elite that have assembled to watch over this exam. We have not missed a single thing you have done. You could say that this strength is our proof."

So Ibiki thought, "_Hehehe, we have gotten rid of the trash now….let's begin. It is about time."_

Ibiki said, "Ok, now it is time to start the 10th question. But before that, let's go over the added rules to the test."

Naruto said to himself, "This guy is a natural….luckily I am not one to be intimidated by such words to make me twist my own mind up." Ibiki said, "Now these are the rules of desperation…"

**Some Building-** "It is sure boring without my team." Kakashi said.

Asuma said, "Don't worry, you will be busy again soon."

Kakashi said, "Why is that?"

Asuma said, "I heard that proctor for the first phase was Ibiki Morino."

Kakashi said, "Oh….don't worry, I won't see them for a while."

Asuma said, "Huh?"

Kakashi said, "Uzumaki Naruto."

Asuma said, "What about him?"

Kakashi gave him a Bingo Book, "Turn to page 68."

Asuma and the sensei of Team 8, Kurenai Yuhi looked at page 68 and were shocked, "Naruto Uzumaki, nickname: The Heartless Angel, known for his kenjutsu prowess, B-rank ninja, Reason: Killed Gato and over 100 mercenaries, defeated and killed Zabuza Momochi, A-rank nukenin of the Mist. Said after he kills and leaves, a black and white feather is left and one witness has seen that he had black and white wings."

Kurenai said, "No way, he killed Zabuza Momochi?"

Kakashi said, "My team….will definitely pass with Naruto around."

Kurenai said, "Who is Ibiki Morino?"

Asuma said, "He is a pro at torture and interrogation, but he tends to focus on torturing the mind."

**Room 301-** Ibiki said, "First, you must decide that you want to take it or not."

Sasuke thought, _"Choose to take it?"_

Temari said, "Choose? What happens if we decide not to?"

Ibiki said, "That is simple really, your points will be reduced to zero and you will fail along with the two of your teammates."

Random genin shouted, "What the hell does that supposed to mean? Then of course, we will take the final question."

Ibiki gave them a sadistic smirk, "Now for the other rule…if you take the tenth question and get the wrong answer, that person will never be able to take this exam ever again."

Kiba shouted, "That is complete bullshit, there are guys that have taken this exam before."

Ibiki laughed, "You guys are unlucky…this year it is my rules, but I am giving you a way out….if you quit now, you can try again next year. Now let's begin the tenth question, who wants to give up?"

Soon various genin began to quit and when the room was almost empty and Naruto felt that that there were high levels of chakra there, he decided to take action. Naruto began to chuckle a bit and Ibiki looked at him, "Hmmm, is something funny, Uzumaki?"

Naruto smiled, "Actually there is….I can't believe those idiots fell for that trick, it was so obvious."

Temari said, "What do you mean?"

Naruto said, "Ibiki-san wanted us to cheat….if you remember correctly in the Academy, you get caught for cheating, you get a zero and kicked out of the room, but he gave us 5 chances to cheat. Basically you could have cheated on one of the chunin here in the open and if you got all of your questions, you just have 8 points left over. Now as for the second rule to the tenth question, are you kidding? No one has authority to ban you from the exams, now if it was the Kage, then you could take that into consideration. Are ninja supposed to cheat? We all use deception as a tool and hiding in the shadows for god's sake. Since when do ninja follow rules?"

Ibiki started to laugh, "You are good, Uzumaki….very good, thank you for keeping quiet."

Naruto said, "Anytime."

Sakura said, "Wait a minute, Naruto, you were in on this."

Naruto said, "If you mean that Ibiki told me about his plan, then no…I signal him during the exam since I figured it out after he said the cheating rule…I kept quiet because there were some weaklings during this exam, the ones that are left here…have basically pass the first phase of the exam. You all that are sitting in the exam have been put into the shoes of a chunin. A chunin is a leader and must take risks that may endanger his own life…even with information in his head….there are also things that you can't avoid and must take action regardless if your life was in danger. I know….since I first tried to convince Zabuza Momochi to join Konoha, he took the risk by fighting against me even though he lost the first time. That is the ability of a chunin….to be courageous and survive against any hardship."

Ibiki said, "Spoken like a true leader, Naruto Uzumaki. I believe that you will go far in this exam."

Naruto said, "Naturally, Ibiki-san."

Then their eyes flickered to the side and at that moment, something dark passed through the window. Suddenly kunai flickered up to the ceiling and Ibiki thought, _"Not this one, geez…"_

A woman with gold eyes, a fishnet mesh bodysuit, an orange skirt with a tan trenchcoat and shin guards stood in front of the banner, which said 'Anko Mitarashi, the sexy Special Jonin' Anko said, "This is no time for celebrating, you guys…I am the examiner for the second phase….Anko Mitarashi, now let's go."

Naruto thought, _"Anko Mitarashi, former apprentice of Orochimaru, one of the Sannin and an S-rank criminal. She is just like me, wears a mask, but her personality is a bit more….eccentric than mine."_

Sakura muttered, "This examiner reminds me of Naruto back at the Academy."

Ibiki peered from behind the banner, "Bad timing.."

Anko said, "You are one to talk, you left 78 people in the exam."

Ibiki said, "Blame this kid here."

Anko looked at Naruto, who stared back and waved at her, "Yo, Mitarashi-san."

She turned to Ibiki, "He figured out the test."

Ibiki said with a smirk, "Before I even started it…"

Anko grinned, "That is interesting…but I can guarantee that this bunch will be depleted by half…"

Sakura said, "H-Half?"

Anko shivered, "Ahhh, I am getting excited. I will explain everything once we changed location…follow me."

Training Ground 44- Anko said, "Welcome to the stage for the second test, training ground 44 also known as 'the Forest of Death'"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Really? It is not so scary to me."

Anko said, "Ah, a spirited one…"

Naruto tensed up and grabbed First Tsurugi to block her thrown kunai, then Anko appeared behind Naruto, "Ones like you always tend to die first…."

Naruto said, "Are you sure? You should check your racing heart." Anko looked down to see Naruto's kunai resting inches from her breast."

Naruto said, "Spirited ones are always careful…you should never mess with me, Anko-san. Even an angel like me can become heartless once again."

Anko said, "You are the Heartless Angel?"

Naruto said, "The same one…."

Anko regained her composure, "Well, then before we start the exam, you have to sign these papers…there will be deaths in this one and if you don't sign these, it will be my responsibility. I am going to explain the test, then you can sign them. After that, each team will check in at that booth behind me."

She handed Naruto the waiver forms and he passed them out as she said, "Simply put…you will attempt the ultimate survival. First, I will explain the area….there are 44 gates exactly and there is a forest, a river and a tower in the center. Each gate is exactly 10 km away from each other. During the survival in here, you will be asked to complete a certain task. Using the weapons and jutsu that you have, you will compete in a no rules scroll battle. You will fight over these two scrolls 'heaven' and 'earth' Since there are 26 teams here, half will get heaven and the other will get earth. To pass this test….you must reach the tower with both scrolls."

Sakura muttered, "So half of the teams will definitely fail because of this requirement."

Anko said, "There also is a time limit, the test will last for five days…"

Ino shouted, "Five days?"

Choji said, "What about food?"

Naruto chuckled, _"Choji, always thinking with his stomach." _

Anko said, "You are on your own….the forest is filled with food, you just have to watch out for the man-eating beasts, poisonous plants, poisonous insects, etc. and 13 teams passing is not likely. As the days progressed, the time to rest is shorter and the distance to the goal is farther, plus the area is filled with enemies, you will not get that much sleep. So you can fail not only for losing the scroll, but the harshness of the course."

She smiled, "Now let's talk about what will disqualify you…first, those who don't make to the tower within the 120 hour time limit. Second, those who lose a teammate or have their teammate killed. As a rule, there is no quitting in the middle of the exam, so if you are going to be a pussy, don't sign those papers. You will be in the forest for five days and also you can't look inside the scroll until you make it to the tower."

Shikamaru asked, "What happens if you do?"

Anko said, "Why spoil the surprise when you can dare to find out yourselves? Chunin are asked to handle classified information, this is to test your trustworthiness. That is it, exchange your 3 forms for your scroll, then choose a gate to get ready for the start."

Naruto smirked as he already signed his on the spot while Anko was explaining the rules. Anko said, "Oh, and a final word of advice….just don't die."

Naruto said, "That was three."

Anko smiled sweetly, "Quite the smartass, aren't you?"

Naruto said, "I could say the same for you."

He returned the same smile to her and the genin were sweating at the pressure between the Special Jonin and the Heartless Angel. 30 minutes later, every team went through their specified gates.

**Team 10-** Shikamaru said, "Ok, we are not going after Team 7 since they are the strongest team here, so we are going to hide and wait for an unsuspecting team."

**Team 8- **"Let's go, Akamaru!" Kiba shouted.

Shino said, "We need a plan…"

Kiba said, "I got a plan….let's find Team 7 and take their scroll."

Shino said, "Kiba, that is illogical, there is no chance that we would survive against them especially Team 7. Sasuke knows Katon jutsu, effective against my bugs, Naruto could kick your ass according to the information and he did confirm it….plus we could even ask Haku if it was true."

Kiba said, "That cute ice girl? What does she have to do with it?"

Shino said, "She is the daughter of the deceased Zabuza Momochi….and they did bring her here after they were done with their A-rank mission, meaning that Naruto was able to defeat Zabuza and probably Haku joined them on her father's request."

Kiba said, "Fine, we go after some random team."

**Sound Trio-** "So…are we going after our mission?" Zaku asked Dosu.

Dosu said, "We need to wait until they are weakened. If that information about that Naruto kid was correct, we would be killed without a minute's notice and Sasuke is quite bothersome himself."

Kin said, "So we just follow them and wait until they are both weakened. The girl should not be a problem at all…she is the weakest of them."

Zaku said, "So if we capture her, then they will come after her."

Dosu said, "And that is when we strike."

**Grass Trio-** The woman said, "You guys know what to do?"

The men said, "Find those brats, right?" The woman nodded as she let her freakishly long tongue out a bit.

**Team 7-** Naruto said, "I will be back, I got to go take care of business." The Jinchuuriki went into the trees and found some bushes to relieve himself in, Ayane said, **"Naruto, someone is approaching your position." **

Naruto said, _"Thanks for the heads up, Ayane-chan."_ Naruto let a kunai down his sleeve and as he finished and zipped up his pants, he turned to see an Ame nin that struck him down in the base of his neck. "Hehehe, gotcha!" The ninja said.

Then Naruto poofed into smoke and the ninja said, "What? A Bunshin?"

Naruto said from behind, "Obviously….you thought I wouldn't have taken precautions. I learned at a young age to never let your guard down at all." He took the kunai by the blade and used the metal ring to knock the Ame nin between the eyes.

The Ame nin fell to the floor and Naruto searched him to find 3 smoke bombs, a pack of solider pills, three blank scrolls and an earth scroll. "Nice, we can go to the tower now." Naruto walked back out to his team and he said, "Let's go to the tower…."

Sasuke said, "You found an earth scroll?"

Naruto lifted it up to show them, "Apparently, ninja from Ame are very stupid for not believing information….let's move." He tossed the scroll to Sakura and said, "You hold that….they obviously will believe that I will have the scrolls with me, not the weakest, no offense, Sakura."

Sakura nodded and Naruto said, "Let's move quickly or someone might find us."

Sasuke nodded and Team 7 moved through the trees toward the tower as they heard human screams. Outside, Anko said, "It seems that the fun has begun." As they moved and Naruto realized that they were only 4 km away from their destination, he felt a wind blow part him and it stung his cheek. _"Wind-natured chakra? Oh…shit!" _

Naruto shouted, "Reflega!"

A barrier protected both Sakura and Sasuke from the wind and Naruto used First Tsurugi to shield him from the jutsu. When it stopped, he noticed a Kusa team was in front of him. "Aww, you didn't blow away….oh, well, you guys can play around somewhere…I will plan with them." The woman said.

Naruto thought, _"Something is off about this woman." _

The woman said, "You guys work pretty fast, now how about we battle for that heaven scroll of yours….with our lives on the line?" The woman released killing intent and Sasuke along with Sakura were frozen stiff, but Naruto was still up.

"Ho? You overcame it with it?" the woman said.

Naruto said, "Zabuza-san was much better than yours, lady."

Naruto took the time to punch his teammates to knock them out of their shock, "I will apologize later. Right, now we need to focus on this woman, but be careful, I sense something off with her."

The woman smirked to reveal a summoning tattoo and bit her thumb, **"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"** She was suddenly on top of a snake and Naruto's eyes widened a bit, "Why are you here…..Orochimaru?"

The woman said, "Oh? You know who I am?"

Naruto said, "You are the only one who can summon snakes besides Anko and you are a S-rank criminal, care to explain why you are here? Are you after the Sharingan?"

Sasuke said, "The Sharingan?"

Orochimaru chuckled as he ripped off the woman's face to reveal his own….his eyes were a slitted yellow and his face was pale along with light purple marking near his eyes. "You are pretty smart for a genin." Naruto said, **"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"**

Two Bunshins appeared and Naruto said, "Sakura, go with those Kage Bunshins, they will protect you to go to the tower meanwhile me and Sasuke will buy you some time."

Sakura said, "Naruto, are you insane? Orochimaru is an S-rank criminal and you defeated with Zabuza with some difficulty."

Naruto said, "Does it matter? I rather fight him knowing that you are safe….hate to be harsh, but you are a burden and Sasuke is useful, now go…we will be fine because I know Orochimaru can't kill Sasuke since he wants the Sharingan, that is his weakness."

Orochimaru said, "Are you saying you would kill Sasuke if you lost?"

Naruto lifted First Tsurugi and aimed it at Sasuke's neck, "Without hesitation, care to test me, Orochimaru?"

Orochimaru scowled, "You will not touch my vessel, Naruto-kun…"

Naruto said, "Please don't call me that….I don't swing that way, I rather fuck the Kyuubi in the ass than hear you say my name like that." Inside, Ayane blushed at Naruto's words and images of him dominating her in her ass were sounding quite pleasant. "Sakura, go!"

The bubblegum-haired girl left reluctantly with the Bunshins and Orochimaru let her go…considering that killing her was too easy. Orochimaru opened his mouth and a snake popped out with a sword in his mouth. The Snake Sannin drew it and Naruto eyed it with curiosity, "The Kusanagi no Tsurugi?"

Orochimaru said as he held the double-edged, guardless jian, "Oh? You know of this weapon?"

Naruto said, "Yes, I hope you won't mind if I take it from you when you are dead."

Orochimaru said, "You got your own."

Naruto said, "Right, but I think it will would better in Anko-san's hands since she is your former apprentice."

Orochimaru said, "It would be better in Sasuke's hands….or should I say my hands when I get his body to use as my vessel."

Cloud said, **"He sounds like you, Sephiroth."**

Sephiroth said, **"Hmph, don't compare me to that weakling." **

Cloud quoted, **"What I want, Cloud, is to sail the cosmos with this planet as my vessel….just like my mother did long ago."**

Sephiroth said, **"Ok, that was creepy, Cloud."**

Cloud said, **"Sephiroth, you sounded just like that." **

Ayane said,** "Will you shut up? I am trying to watching Naruto-kun kick ass." **

Naruto gripped First Tsurugi and whispered, "Sasuke, when I removed this sword from your throat, I want you to send a Goukakyuu after me…"

Sasuke said, "Got it."

Naruto moved toward Orochimaru and Sasuke immediately went through hand signs, **"Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"** Orochimaru blocked Naruto's attack and Naruto grabbed Orochimaru's free hand with his own as the Goukakyuu consumed them both.

Orochimaru jumped away from the smoke, his clothes burned and bruises were on his face. Naruto, unlike him, used Mako to shield him from the fire. _"What was that power….it was not the Kyuubi's chakra."_ Orochimaru thought.

Sasuke tried to sneak up behind Orochimaru to attack him with a kunai, the Sannin blocked it with Kusanagi, then Naruto launched his sword at Orochimaru, making the two separate. Orochimaru turned his attention on Naruto and the Kusanagi elongated to stab Naruto, but he blocked it with one of his blades.

Orochimaru said, "What? Where did that blade come from?"

Naruto said, "Orochimaru, meet Ascalon…."

Orochimaru looked at the oddly looking blade, which was single-edged and had a gear-like mechanism as its tsuba. Naruto pushed up Ascalon up against the extended Kusanagi while Sasuke shouted, **"Housenka no Jutsu!"**

Orochimaru was forced to let go of the sword to avoid the fireballs and then Naruto descended on Orochimaru, but Naruto noticed the slimy Sannin made a hand sign and a short flick. Naruto planted his feet forward to push off Orochimaru and avoided the Kusanagi that was coming behind him by a margin.

He grabbed the hilt of First Tsurugi and flipped to balance on the blade of it, looking at his right shoulder pad. There was a small cut on it and Naruto thought, _"It is said that the Kusanagi no Tsurugi was able to cut through anything._

" Orochimaru thought, _"How is that cleaver is able to withstand the Kusanagi? It is supposed to break that thing in two, but now. How is that possible?"_

Sasuke took a kunai in his mouth and took out four kunai in one hand with a small windmill shuriken in his other hand. He threw it at Orochimaru, who dodged the kunai and then Sasuke came around the tree to launch the shuriken.

Orochimaru moved his head to the side to see that his hair was cut a bit, then Sasuke moved on the kunai in his mouth and Orochimaru dodged with a smirk, "What is wrong? Can't you aim right, Sasuke-kun?"

Orochimaru's eyes flickered to Naruto, who still on the blade, "_Why isn't he attacking by now…unless…it's a trap?" _

Sasuke smirked as he yanked the strings back, making the kunai and shuriken come back to meet Orochimaru's head. _"Shit….this is….the Sharingan Triple Windmill Blade."_

Orochimaru caught the shuriken in his mouth, but it cut at his tongue and gums. "Heh….too bad, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke said, "You haven't seen anything yet….**Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!**"

Orochimaru's eyes widened as his face was burned by the jutsu and then he began to laugh, "So….this is the power of the Sharingan, heh, heh….now I know that I want you."

Naruto moved next to Sasuke with First Tsurugi all connected in his hand and then he smirked, "I told you….you will not get Sasuke, since you are so fascinated by the Sharingan's ability….do you go after Itachi first?"

Orochimaru flinched and Naruto smirked as he said, "It seems you did do it and got your ass kicked…..so to get the Sharingan, you decided to go after the less experienced wielder of the Sharingan, Sasuke….face it, Orochimaru, you are getting old….you will die by one of the next generation's hands soon."

Orochimaru said, "Naruto-kun…I could use someone like you on my side….why protect a village that shuns you….doesn't acknowledge your abilities."

Naruto said, "Now if I was naïve back then, I would have taken that offer…but I don't need this village to acknowledge….if I have one person that acknowledges me, that is all I need. That is the only light that I would need to pierce my own darkness. You….on the other hand, would try to experiment on me like you did back then or cast me away when I served my purpose. Now what kind of leader does that, hmm? You find children with abilities that interest you and at their weakest moment, you attacked and lured them into your lair. It won't happen to me or Sasuke…."

He charged at Orochimaru and attacked him again, Sasuke stood still as they fought. Orochimaru slashed at Naruto's arm, but Naruto parried it and swung at Orochimaru's torso. Orochimaru had to use effort to block his attack, _"The way…he is swinging this clunker…he will kill me if I am not careful." _He thought.

Orochimaru said, "Oh, I think it will consider the fact that he needs power to kill Itachi."

Naruto said, "Your shortcut is not going to work….no matter what Sasuke does to get power, it is not enough to kill Itachi. All the jutsu in the world will not kill him because Sasuke realizes on hatred. Hatred clouds your judgment and Itachi will use that against him….the only way Sasuke can defeat Itachi is through a bond….a bond of friendship."

Orochimaru stabbed at Naruto, but Naruto jumped and stepped on the sword to charge at Orochimaru to try an overhead slash. Orochimaru moved and the tree was split in half. Orochimaru thought, _"Holy shit….this boy….is stronger than I thought. He is so lucky I can't possess him because of that fox sealed inside of him." _

Orochimaru laughed, "You actually believe that bullshit….look what happened to the Yondaime, he got killed because of his stupidity for this village. Love….will get a person killed, only hatred will let you survive…and I am the only one who can show that to Sasuke-kun."

Naruto moved against Orochimaru with First Tsurugi in hand and Orochimaru dodged to let Naruto hit the trunk and smoke billowed up. Orochimaru sprang towards it only to see that Masamune pierced his shoulder.

Naruto said, "Masamune, meet Orochimaru. Orochimaru, meet Masamune, you two will be very well acquaintanced after this is over."

Sasuke watched as Naruto fought against Orochimaru and thought, _"Is that true? Will love actually make me strong? No….hatred is the only way I can truly become strong….I defeated Haku with only my hatred…my purpose to survive to kill Itachi, but Naruto….he fought against Zabuza and he won."_

Suddenly as the Uchiha was so wrapped in his thoughts, the real Orochimaru grabbed Sasuke's head and bit his neck, the Uchiha screamed. Naruto was alerted to Sasuke to see the real Orochimaru there and Naruto cursed, "Damn it!"

Orochimaru then drew a seal on Sasuke's forearm and whispered, "I hope you like my gifts….the Kusanagi and the Cursed Seal of Heaven are yours to wield….come and seek me out if you want real power, Sasuke-kun."

Naruto stabbed the earth with Masamune and cursed, "Damn it, I failed to notice the switch. Son of a bitch!" Naruto turned to see a screaming Sasuke and knocked him out to spare him of the pain and stop him from alerting enemy ninja.

Ayane said, **"That seal…..Naruto, it is infecting his chakra system…"**

Naruto said, _"How do I stop it?"_

Ayane said, **"I have a sealing method, but it is going to take half of your chakra to do it."**

Naruto said, _"Fine, that should be enough and I will use your chakra to let me get to the tower. Take over."_ Naruto relinquished control to Ayane and his slitted blue-green eyes turned crimson red.

Ayane said, **"Okay…" **She flipped through hand signs and shouted, **"Akuton: Demonic Seal of Hell!"** Ayane's pointer finger, middle finger and thumb nail lengthened to sharpened points and pierced the seal on Sasuke's neck.

The unconscious Uchiha cringed in pain and Ayane used Naruto's chakra to make a seal surround the mark. Strange markings surrounded the seal and Sasuke's face calmed down. Then Naruto got control back and knelt to the ground, huffing and puffing.

Suddenly Naruto looked up to see Zaku, Kin and Dosu and said, "If you want the scroll, you can't have it…"

Dosu chuckled, "We don't want your scroll…merely the Uchiha's life. Wake him up, so we can fight him."

Naruto said, "Unfortunately that is not going to happen."

Zaku lifted up his arm and pointed at Naruto, "Then you can die first, **Zankuuha**!"

Naruto muttered, "Reflect!"

The sound wave bounced off the barrier and went back to the user. The Sound Trio jumped away from the blast and noticed that Naruto was gone.

"Damn, Zaku, we had him…." Kin said, shouting at her teammate.

Zaku said, "Shut up and let's follow them before they reach the tower. If they do, we wouldn't be able to complete our mission and Orochimaru-sama will kill us."

The Sound Trio moved instantly and saw Naruto with Sasuke on his back ahead of them. Zaku was about to hit them with a Zankuuha, but Dosu said, "Zaku, let Kin handle this."

Kin threw senbon at Naruto and Sasuke, but the Jinchuuriki shouted, "Reflect!" The barrier appeared and made the senbon bounce back to them, then Naruto said, "You three are a nuisance…Stop…"

Instantly a black clock appeared in front of the Sound Trio and they were paralyzed. Naruto said, "That little technique should stop you from 15 minutes….enough time to get to the tower. Have fun!" Naruto disappeared from sight and the Sound Trio were cursing Naruto…well, mostly Zaku.

**Tower-** Sakura was waiting patiently and then she saw Naruto with Sasuke. Sakura said, "Sasuke….what happened?"

Naruto said, "Orochimaru managed to bite Sasuke and put some weird mark on his neck, but he should be fine for now. He just need to rest…do you have the earth scroll?"

Sakura nodded and held it out to show Naruto.

The Jinchuuriki replied, "Good, now we can open them." Sakura said, "Wait….how do I know that you are the real Naruto."

Naruto summoned Masamune, "Does this satisfy you, Sakura?"

Sakura nodded, "Naruto….."

Naruto said, "Yes?"

Sakura said, "Back there, did you really mean what you said when you said that you would kill Sasuke in order to keep him away from Orochimaru."

Naruto said, "Sakura, Orochimaru with the Sharingan would be dangerous and would endanger the village. If I had to prevent thousand lives to sacrifice Sasuke's, I will do it….despite your attachment to him. Like I said, I won't kill him unless there is no other way to avoid it."

Sakura said, "But Sasuke…is your teammate."

Naruto said, "Yes, he is….but he knows the consequences of being a ninja, if it just so happen that I had to kill him, I would take up his dream for the both of us. Now let's open the scrolls…."

Sakura took the earth scroll while Naruto took the heaven scroll and they both opened the scroll to see the kanji for human. Naruto said, "It is a summoning scroll, quickly drop it." They threw the scrolls in a corner and Naruto grasped First Tsurugi's hilt while Sakura took out a kunai and slid into a guard position.

The smoke cleared to reveal Iruka and he said, "Long time no see, guys?"

Naruto relaxed a bit and Sakura said, "Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka said, "Looks like that you guys had a bit of trouble."

Sakura said, "What were you doing here?"

Iruka said, "It was set up so that the chunins would meet up with the test-takers and I was allowed to greet you guys…you guys are early. To celebrate your passing, I could treat you to ramen…"

Naruto said, "Thanks, seeing that we have four days to pass the time, but Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka said, "Yes?"

Naruto said, "If we were to open the scroll ahead of schedule, what would you do?"

Iruka said, "I would have to put you in a state of unconsciousness by that time."

Naruto smirked, "You mean you would have put two of us unconscious…"

Iruka said, "What do you mean?"

Naruto said, "You have a Bingo Book?"

Iruka nodded and Naruto said, "Turn to page 68."

Iruka did so and looked at Naruto in shock, "A-Already?"

Naruto nodded and Sakura said, "What?"

Iruka gave the book to Sakura and Sakura was shocked as well….there was Naruto Uzumaki's impassive face and he was ranked a B-rank ninja…."

Sakura said, "Wait…you have wings?"

Naruto said, "Oh, right, I forgot to tell you guys that I have a Kekkei Genkai."

Naruto released his wings in a flourish, white and black feathers falling from his wings. "This is how I did an aerial battle with Zabuza…I can basically fly and the rest of my Kekkei Genkai allows me to use that strange chakra….I called it Mako."

Sakura said, "Wow…"

Iruka said, "How come you never show this?"

Naruto said, "I want to keep it a secret, I thought the mist would provide the cover, but I guess it didn't…."

Iruka thought, "_Naruto….you just keep on surprising me everytime."_

The chunin said, "Have you figured out the meaning on this wall?"

Naruto said, "Yeah, the heaven represents the mind and earth represents the body. For example, if you were like Sakura, who has a lot of heaven, then she must have earth….meaning she must train hard to get stronger. If you are like Kiba, who has earth, but hardly heaven….then he must gain knowledge…the blank in the last sentence, you just put your own name in… 'These rules will guide Naruto's extremes'"

Iruka said, "Correct….now just be careful in the third test."

Naruto said, "Don't worry, Iruka-sensei, we will be fine….we are stronger than before, even Sakura has grown a lot."

Sakura blushed at Naruto's comment and Iruka said, "Right….sorry, well, then get some rest and good luck in the third test."

Naruto nodded and he carried Sasuke and Sakura to a nearby room to rest for a while.

_**Hakureisaiga- Holy shit! I just finished practically half of the Chunin Exam arc in one chapter! SWEET! Anyway, Sasuke has been given not only the cursed mark, but the Sword of Kusanagi as well….what will happen? Will the seal break thru Ayane's seal? Will Team 7 survive the exams? Will Naruto get some butt? Tune in next time! **_


	7. Views and Preparations

The next day, Naruto woke up early and went to the dojo, training with Masamune and First Tsurugi. He asked, _"Ayane-chan, about Sasuke's seal….can that ever is broken?" _

Ayane said, **"There are two ways to do so, but all of them are impossible to happen. The first way is that he has to have a strong desire and sheer will power to do this….but I doubt that sheer willpower part since he tends to give up when someone is stronger than him. The second way is someone like Cloud and Sephiroth can break the spell as well….which is highly unlikely as well." **

Naruto said, _"Then he is still the same as ever." _

Cloud muttered, **"Something tells me that seal will break….I don't know what, but something bad is going to happen." **

Sephiroth said, **"Then we must be prepared to face it head on." **

Naruto shed his jacket and took out the pack holding First Tsurugi, revealing his chest out to the world. Naruto took up First Tsurugi and Masamune, "I will need to practice duel-wielding. It was a bit hard when I had to wield them both at the same time."

The Jinchuuriki worked on his kenjutsu and taijutsu for 3 hours and then he meditated at the end. "You need something, Sakura?" The Mako-enriched swordsman asked.

Sakura said, "That mark on Sasuke's neck...did that Orochimaru guy did something to him?"

Naruto said, "I am going to mince words with you, Sakura. That viper manages to place that mark on Sasuke's neck, but it won't bother him at all....I manage to do a seal on it and it is very hard to break, he will be fine."

Sakura whispered quietly, "I see....thanks for telling me."

The Jinchuuriki said, "You're welcome...Sakura."

Sakura said, " Oh, more teams came in....that team from Suna and Hinata's team....but it's strange."

Naruto inquired, " About what?"

Sakura said, "That Gaara character...he had no sign of a scratch on him."

Naruto's eyes widened a bit, _"No scratch? Not a person with a Kage status could do that....he or she would have at least one. Just who is Sabaku no Gaara?"_ he thought.

"Thanks for the information, how is Sasuke?" the Jinchuuriki asked.

Sakura perked up a bit, "He has a slight fever and his breathing is a bit erratic. Other than that, he will make a full recovery." Naruto flipped off the balance point, which was the hilt of First Tsurugi and took the buster sword to place it in his holster. "I will be back, I am going to check out the competition."

**Unnamed World- Midgar- **A group of people were hard at work, they were building a portal machine. Ever since the battle between Cloud and the reincarnated Sephiroth. Cloud's friends, all affiliated in a group called AVALANCHE and somewhat the remnants of Shinra were affected. Vincent Valentine didn't show it outwardly, but was close to believing that Cloud was dead. Kadaj's brother Loz and Yazoo were killed during the battle. Loz was killed by the combined effort of the Turks along with Vincent and Barret while Yazoo was killed by Tifa, Yuffie and Cid.

Red XIII or Nanaki, which was his real name along with Cid Highwind, Tseng, Elena, Rude, Reno, Rufus Shinra, Barret Wallace......all believed that Cloud was dead. Only Barret's daughter, Marlene, the hyper materia hunter/ninja Yuffie Kisaragi and Cloud's childhood friend Tifa Lockhart stubbornly believed that Cloud was alive. In Naruto's world, a few months has passed while in Midgar, it has been five years.

"Tifa, are you sure you want to go through with this?" Rufus asked her.

The black-haired martial artist looked at Rufus, "If I was not sure, then I wouldn't dare to ask for your help."

It took some convincing, but Tifa was able to persuade Rufus to help her make a machine that granted access to other worlds. Barret was a bit uncomfortable considering seven years ago, they were enemies, but for Tifa's sake and the possibility of Cloud being alive, he swallowed his pride.

Yuffie used her skills to collect materia preferably thunder for energy and summons. Since a typical summon has a different world....maybe using the same sequence on a machine can make a portal. Rufus said, "Ok, start the process....we will first transfer her to her shop. Just because it worked with a stuffed animal doesn't mean it will work for a human." Reno said, "You got it, boss." The redhead turned on the machine and the contraption sparked to life. The materia sparked to life and an energy beam traveled through the portal. "Alright, Tifa, the portal will be ready in a few moments, now all we have to do is lock on to the last known energy signature from Cloud or Sephiroth....it will be easier to track Cloud's own." Rufus said. Tifa nodded, "I will be back soon, everyone." She grasped the device that she had strapped to her wrist, allowing her to teleport back to Midgar. "Cloud, I hope that you are okay." she thought to herself. She ran through the portal and the area flashed for a moment before shutting down. Rufus said, "And now we wait and hope that Tifa is safe and Cloud is alright...I don't think that she would be able to bare the thought that Cloud was dead since she has been saying that for five years as well as your daughter."

Barret said, "For once, I agree with you, Shinra. Whatever happens....we must make sure that we get through this thing together."

Unnamed World- Forest of Death-Tower- Naruto moved outside of the dojo to see the teams that arrived in the tower were scattered about. His eyes searched to find Team 8 and Team Suna. Gaara caught the gaze from Naruto's eyes and moved toward him.

"Uzumaki..." Gaara said in monotone.

Naruto replied coolly, "Hello, Gaara-san..."

The redhead said, "I hope that you are ready to prove my existence....your blood will satisfy my Mother along with Sasuke Uchiha's."

The Jinchuuriki said, "You can try, Gaara-san....but killing me or Sasuke will not prove your existence...because I doubt you can defeat us without opposition."

Gaara just stared at him and then turned away, "You will die, Uzumaki."

Naruto said with a smirk, "Come and try."

Gaara walks away and then Naruto looks at Temari for a moment, "It was nice seeing you again, Temari-chan."

Temari gave him a smile and it almost looked sad to him. _"He is cute, but Gaara will kill him regardless....but maybe I can convince him to spare him to keep him." _The desert princess thought.

Kankuro thought, _"He is so dead." _

Naruto moves toward Team 8 and greets them, "Hello, Shino-san, Kiba-san, Hinata-chan. I see that you guys survived the ordeal."

Kiba said, "Dude, what the hell are you doing?"

Naruto said, "What do you mean?"

Hinata replied, "Naruto-kun, that Gaara character....he is very dangerous."

Shino said, "She is right, we saw him killing a team of Rain ninja using sand that came from his gourd."

Kiba said, "Akamaru told me that the sand reeked of blood. That Gaara kid is very dangerous."

Naruto said, "That might be true, Kiba....but nonetheless sooner or later I will have to fight him and to be honest, I am kind of intrigued by Gaara."

Kiba said, "You are one crazy person, Naruto."

Naruto said, " Not crazy, I am just legally insane, Kiba. I am confident that I can beat Gaara."

Hinata said, "Just be careful, Naruto-kun..."

The Jinchuuriki said, "I am always careful, Hinata-chan...good luck in the exams."

Another day passed and Team Dosu appeared with Team Kabuto. Dosu, Kin and Zaku glared at Naruto before secluding themselves in an isolated room. Naruto looked at them back, but noticed that Kin had a reluctant look in her glare, making him wonder about the Oto team's purpose in killing Sasuke.

He knew that they were connected to Orochimaru meaning that Orochimaru wanted them killed if Sasuke activated the cursed mark on his neck. Also Kabuto gave him a bad vibe also, he seems weak, but Naruto knew that people shouldn't be underestimated by their appearance, which means that Kabuto has something to hide.

The third day came around and Team Gai appeared. Naruto was with Team Eight while this happened as Lee along with Tenten and Neji walked through the door. Tenten noticed Naruto and shouted, "Hey, Naruto..."

The Jinchuuriki turned to see her approaching them along with her male teammates. "Ohayo, Tenten-san, I see that you have made it as well."

Tenten smiled, "Of course, we trained for this constantly...plus everyone on our team has someone that they want to fight against."

Lee said, "Tenten is right about that, I wish to fight against the youthful Sasuke and you, Naruto-san."

Tenten replied, "As do I."

Naruto looked out of the corner of his eye to see Neji was glaring at Hinata, "Is there something wrong, Neji?"

Neji answered, "No, Uzumaki, I am just surprised that Lady Hinata has made it this far in the exams. At most times, she would just quit."

Hinata's eyes averted from her cousin's gaze and Naruto said, "The Hinata I know would not quit now when she is so far. She still has to show me how powerful that she has gotten."

Neji said, "People can't change, Uzumaki-san. Fate has determined everything from birth...everyone has a title from elite to loser."

Naruto said, "Excuse me, Neji-san, but I am allergic to bullshit on that one. There is no such thing as fate or predetermined destiny, only idiots believe in that."

Neji said, "There is no proven fact that fate doesn't exist..."

Naruto replied, "Actually there is...me. I was labeled the deadlast in the Academy, but yet I am known as the Heartless Angel. Now from your words, you believe that fate determined me to be a loser from birth, yet I am strong....can you explain that now?"

Neji's jaw clenched as Naruto smirked at his victory of the wit battle.

"Now I think people could change...how I know this? I changed Zabuza Momochi. Zabuza was a warrior, he has an apprentice that he consider as a tool. I fought him once and defeated him....he lost and I was about to kill him along with his apprentice....but I found out that she was just like me. I spared them and gave Zabuza a choice to take his life and leave his client or face me in combat once again. Normally he would run like he did when his assassination attempt on the Mizukage failed, but he told me that something compelled him to fight to the death against me. I don't like to take lives needlessly unless the opportunity takes a turn for the worse, but Zabuza gave me no choice...he told me before I kill him that he believed that falling against me would start a new legend and it would be a honor to fall against me."

Naruto said, "And here we are....now fate and destiny are things that are non-existent unless someone believes it to be real. There is only one thing that I agree about fate....we are all connected to one fate and that is death, but deciding things on appearance, terms of strength and etc. Fate doesn't control things there, we do....through determination people can break through the stereotypes, Neji-san."

Neji said, "You are a fool to believe that fate is non-existent, Uzumaki-san."

The Jinchuuriki replied, "Fine, then we will settle this in a fight. Your belief in fate and predetermined destiny against my belief in the guts to never give up and that people can change despite their supposed predetermined destiny."

Neji said, "Fine, but be prepared to lose. Tenten, Lee, let's go."

Neji walked away while Lee bowed to them first before following Neji and Tenten smiled at them, mainly Naruto, "It was nice seeing you guys again...good luck in the exams. She walked after Lee and Neji.

When they left, Kiba immediately said, "Naruto, you picked a bad opponent to mess with."

Naruto said, "Why is that?"

Shino said, "That is Hinata's cousin, Neji Hyuga. He is last year's Rookie of the Year and the strongest at the Hyuga taijutsu style, the Juken."

Naruto replied, "Shino-san, you know titles mean nothing to me, right?"

Kiba said, "You seem to throw that Heartless Angel title around everywhere you go, Naruto."

The Jinchuuriki stated, "People tend to ask....I just confirm it. The reason I threw that title out to Neji was because he needed to understand that even someone that seems like a loser at first can eventually become a great ninja. I remember Hokage-jiji-san told me about his old team....he trained the Densatsu no Sannin, which was Orochimaru, Tsunade and Jiraiya. Orochimaru was the Rookie of the Year, Tsunade was the top kunoichi and Jiraiya was the dead-last like me. In truth, they sound like my team now, Sasuke, Sakura and me. Over time, the three became close as a team and strong. Soon they separated, one became an S-Rank missing nin because of his obsession over Jutsu, one exiled herself from the village because of the painful memories that she experienced here and the last one that is known to be loyal is traveling around using his abilities to infiltrate and gain information to help Konoha. Now out of the three, who am I?"

Hinata said, "I think you a-are like Jiraiya-sama."

Naruto said, "Correct, Hinata-chan. Tsunade-sama when she was just a Genin sounds like Sakura and Orochimaru is more or less like Sasuke. Both of them had obsession for power and Tsunade along with Sakura both fawned over the Rookie of the Year."

Shino said, "Eventually what you are telling us is that a person can become a great ninja despite his stats as a student or child."

Naruto said, "Right, anybody can..."

He was interrupted by a shout from his teammate, "Naruto, it's Sasuke...he is awake now."

Naruto said, "Excuse me, I must see to my teammate." He nodded to Team 8 and sped toward Sakura, "He is awake now, Sakura."

Sakura said, "Yeah..."

Naruto said, "Well, let's see him then."

Sakura led Naruto to the infirmary to see that Sasuke was up and dressed in his usual garb. "Sasuke-kun, are you sure that you should be standing?" asked the pink-haired girl.

Sasuke said, "I am fine, Sakura." Then he thought, "But when did that guy do to me? What is with this mark on my neck?" Sasuke asked, "Anyway, what happened when I was out."

Sakura said, "After you were knocked out, Naruto carried you here after he repels that Orochimaru guy....you were unconscious for four days."

Sasuke said, "Since we are in a buliding, I take it that we passed."

Naruto said, "Of course, you did want to fight against Lee and Gaara, right?"

Sasuke smirked, "And you as well, Naruto."

Naruto's eyes widened for a bit and said, "I see, I look forward to it then."

Then an ANBU appeared and said, "Naruto Uzumaki, the Hokage wished to see you." The Jinchuuriki said, "Understood." He released his black wing and covered himself to disappear in a specialized Shunshin.

**Hokage's Office-** Naruto appeared before the Hokage and along with him was Anko Mitarashi and Kakashi Hatake. "You needed me, Oji-san?"

Sarutobi said, "Yes, I need you to tell me about your team's encounter with Orochimaru and the strange markings around Sasuke's curse mark."

Naruto said, "Sasuke and I fought against Orochimaru. Knowing information about his obsession with the Sharingan, I had threatened to kill Sasuke if he tried to take him away. Orochimaru attacked us and I was putting him on the ropes until he substituted himself with a Doton Bunshin, making him able to get a hold of Sasuke and give him the cursed seal, similar to the one on Anko's neck."

Anko grasped her neck, "How did you know about it?"

Naruto said, "I looked at it when you came behind me for an intimidation act for the genin. At first, I thought that it was a tattoo, but when Sasuke got the mark, I realized that it was connected to you and the main reason why you are so bitter about Orochimaru."

Kakashi said, "But what about the strange marking around Sasuke's mark, I have never seen anything like it and I don't think you know about fuuinjutsu."

Naruto thought, _"Ayane, should I tell them about you?"_

Ayane said, **"I suggest that you tell them since they will find out eventually."**

The Jinchuuriki mentally nodded and said, "I had help from the Kyuubi to seal off the cursed mark." Kakashi's lone eye along with Anko's eyes widened, "What?"

Anko said, "How could you trust the thing? It slaughtered hundreds of Konoha ninjas 13 years ago."

Naruto said, "Not her fault and yes, the Kyuubi is a woman. She was controlled by an Uchiha named Madara to destroy the village."

Kakashi said, "She might be saying that to trick you."

Naruto said, "Honestly, sensei, if she was.....she would not waste any time to tell me that....other than she would have tried to devour me or manipulate me into opening the seal. She has never attempted to do both in the past 8 years."

Kakashi said, "But..."

Sarutobi said, "Kakashi, enough....I have trusted Naruto's judgment about his burden and so far he has been fine. You should trust him too. The important thing is that what to do with Sasuke."

Anko immediately said, "He should be withdrawn from the exams and have ANBU protect him."

Naruto said, "It is okay, there is no way he can be able to get the curse mark to work unless he had another Bijuu's presence around him and his will was strong enough to break it or myself to release it from its bonds. Plus....I doubt you will get Sasuke to back out since he did inherit the Uchiha stubborn pride."

Anko said, "We can force him to do so..."

Naruto said, "Which will cause resentment in his heart and cause him to move forward in the path toward Orochimaru....is that a risk you can take, Anko-san? To let Orochimaru have the Sharingan at his disposal to toy with and possibly run Konohagakure into the ground."

Anko gritted her teeth as Naruto continued, "Plus Orochimaru wouldn't want you to stop the exams without him. Sasuke is the catalyst of the invasion."

Sarutobi said, "How do you know that there will be an invasion, Naruto-kun?"

The Heartless Angel said, "Simple, the presence of Orochimaru in Konoha is uncanny meaning that he is planning something. Second, the team from Oto tried to kill me and Sasuke when he was unconscious, but luckily I distracted them from getting too close....they also mentioned that Orochimaru would kill them if they had failed to kill Sasuke, meaning that they were affiliated with him, but since Oto is a new village, they don't have enough manpower for an invasion."

Anko said, "But you said that Orochimaru was going to invade Konoha. He doesn't have enough manpower to try and destroy us."

Naruto replied, "That is right, which leads to the fact that he is allied with one of the countries here. The only one that is most logical is Suna."

Kakashi said, "That is impossible, Suna is our ally....they would never attack us."

The boy trained his eyes on his sensei, "No, it is the perfect cover....using the exams to infiltrate the village and since Suna is indeed our ally, we would least expect the attack from them. Also they are the ones with the most teams sent here."

Anko said, "But only one team from Suna is here in the exams."

Naruto said, "Sabaku no Gaara came through the forest without a scratch on his persona, meaning that he is definitely a force to be reckoned. Not even a Kage would be able to survive without suffering a scratch."

Sarutobi said, "He is correct....then we must prepare for the invasion. We will need a month to mobilize and it must be in secret considering Orochimaru's character to slip in and out with his spies. Notify all ANBU and Jonin of this matter quickly and quietly, only tell people that you trust. Naruto, I need you to keep this secret from your genin comrades."

Naruto nodded, "Right, now I believe we have an exam to finish."

Sarutobi rose from his seat, "Yes, we do."

The four of them all did a Shunshin to appear in the tower and gather the genin that were settled inside to move them in an arena. Anko had her headset on and said, "First off, congratulations on passing the second phase of the Chunin Exams."

_**Hakureisaiga- The start of the third phase, Konoha knows of the invasion planned by Orochimaru. With his cursed seal cut off, will Sasuke figure out that the Kusanagi is in his possession? Who will Naruto fight against? Tune in next time!!**_


	8. The Angel's Style Change

_**I'm Back by T.I. plays as Hakureisaiga entered the room**_

_**Hakureisaiga-I'm back, guys….sorry for the long absence. Many events have caused me to look about things in a different way, anyway let's get on with it.**_

_**Gallantmon of the Hazard- Thank you and which harem are you talking about**_

_**RANMACAT-Thanks**_

_**Fayneir- Yes, she is….just trying to mix it all together**_

_**Ultimate-Zelda-fan- Maybe =)**_

_**Shadowwriter329-Alright, hehehehehe**_

_**VFSNAKE-Yes, he will**_

_**Challenger- Thanks and thanks again for the idea**_

_**Animefanbren-I can see me update right about….now**_

_**Deltawaves, Trinty Fenton-Phantom-Thanks**_

_**Thousand Tailed Holy Flash Fang- A lot of things and they will be in the world after the Prelims**_

_**Dark Vizard447- Still thinking about it**_

_**Silber D. Wolf-Thanks**_

_**Dragon Blade00- I know, but I had to get it out of my system before I forget it**_

_**And to the rest of my reviewers, I have read and I will try to answer your reviews as soon as possible now please enjoy the chapter**_

All the genin stood at attention in front of their jonin senseis and the Hokage himself.

Anko said, "Now…we will let Hokage-sama explain the third test. Hokage-sama, if you please?"

Sarutobi nodded, "Thank you, Anko. First, I personally congratulate you on passing the second part of this exam. Before we begin, I would like to inform you about the true reason of this exam." The genin perked up at the Hokage's words.

"_True reason?"_ Sakura thought.

"Why do we have all the allied countries taking the exam together?" Sarutobi asked rhetorically, "To promote friendship among the countries, to raise the level of shinobi. Please don't be confused with these sugar-coated words, this exam is…" Tenten thought, _"Is..?"_ Sarutobi continued, "Is a technical war between the allied countries."

All the genin except Gaara, Shino, and Kabuto's team were shocked. "Wait…just what does that mean?" Tenten said.

Sarutobi mused, "If we were to go back in time, the allied countries were all enemies. To preserve peace, the Chunin Exam Selection was born to solve the problem."

Kiba shouted, "Why the hell we have to do that shit? Is this for deciding Chunin?"

Sarutobi answered, "Yes, that is correct, but also this exam has another side. You are risking your own lives to fight for your respected village's prestige. The ones watching the exam will be leaders and influential individuals, also each daimyo will be there to watch you fight. If you are considered weak, the country will lose clients and vice versa. It also sends a political message to other countries to show their strength."

Lee shouted, "But…why do we have to risk our lives in battle?"

Sarutobi replied, "The strength of the country relies on the strength of the village. In turn, the strength of the village lies within the strength of the shinobi and the strength of the shinobi is at its peak when in danger. It is to show off your own strength, which only has meaning when your life is at risk, that's why those who came before you have fought in the Chunin Exam for this dream that is meaningful."

Tenten said, "But…why do you say stuff about this exam being for friendship?" The Hokage said, "Like I said, I don't want you to confuse this purpose. By losing life and establishing balance…this is the shape of friendship in the world of the shinobi. Now before we begin the third test, I will tell you one more thing…this is not just a test. This is a battle with your dreams and your country's prestige on the line."

Gaara said, "Can you hurry up and tell us what this life-risking battle entails."

The Hokage said, "Hai, I'd like to now explain the third test now, but…" Then a sickly-looking jonin interrupted, "Actually (cough), I would like you to allow me, Gekko Hayate, as a referee." Sarutobi said, "By all means, Hayate-san."

Hayate gets up from his kneeling position and turned to the genin, "Hi everyone, I am Hayate…and there is, umm, something that I would like you to do something before the third test."

Naruto looked at him with a raised eyebrow, _"What the hell? This dude looks so sick, but I am guessing that he is using that look for people to underestimate him."_ Hayate said, "Umm…it's a preliminary for the third test to decide who gets to participate in the main event."

Sakura said softly, "Preliminaries?"

Shikamaru shouted, "Preliminaries? The hell does that mean?"

Hayate coughed, "Simple, there is too many of you since the first and second test has been way too easy for you guys. According to the rules, we must have a preliminary and reduce the number of the participants. As Hokage-sama said, there are many guests here, so the fights will take too long. If those of you feel like quitting may do so now."

"Umm, I am going to quit…" Kabuto said as he shyly raised his hand. "You are Kabuto Yakushi, right? Okay, you may go."

"Who is that kid?" Ibiki asked.

"Kabuto Yakushi, he has failed six straight times according to his data. He is also the kid who got adopted by one of our Jonin medics from the battle at Bellflower Pass."

"So he is that kid, huh?"

Kabuto thought, _"Looks like my work here is done…if you are here, Orochimaru-sama, but I wonder why isn't Sasuke clutching his shoulder in pain at all or even twitching. There is no one in Konoha that can seal that cursed mark and Jiraiya is not here either."_

Hayate said, "So…no more retiring."

Nobody moved from their positions and then the Jonin said, "Okay, then let's…um, continue the preliminaries. This preliminary will consist of one on one fighting, you will basically fight as if you are in a real life confrontation. Since we now have an even number, we will conduct ten matches and obviously the winners will proceed to the third test. Rules….there are no rules, the fight continues until one of you is dead, unconscious or I declare the winner of the match and the object that controls your destiny is…."

Anko muttered in her mike, "Open it."

A wooden panel opened up to reveal an electric scoreboard. "Now let's announce the first match." Hayate said with a cough. The scoreboard began to flash through names as the genin looked on in anticipation.

Sakura whispered, "Sasuke-kun, are you sure that you are alright?"

The Uchiha replied, "I can't miss this….there are a lot of strong people that I want to fight against. I am fine, Sakura."

The board flashed to show that Sasuke Uchiha would be facing Yoroi Akado. _"So Sarutobi-jii is removing Sasuke from play early." _Naruto thought, _"Figures since he is a liability here."_

Sakura looked at Naruto as everyone left to go up on the balcony and watch the fight, "Will that seal hold it back, Naruto?"

"It will, Sakura, that seal is very hard to break and in order to break it, he need to meet certain qualifications. He must have a strong desire and will to do something, the only thing he wants so badly is the death of his brother, Uchiha Itachi, but I doubt that we will see him anytime soon."

Sakura let out a huge sigh and turned to watch the match. "Are the contestants ready?" Hayate asked.

Both Sasuke and Yoroi nodded in agreement and the coughing swordsman shouted, "Begin!" Sasuke immediately threw kunai at Yoroi, the mysterious ninja used his own to block it and engaged Sasuke with taijutsu.

Yoroi sent a kick at Sasuke's torso, but the Uchiha dropped down and swept him off his feet, then he moved to pin him and used a kunai to approach his throat. "Yield!" Sasuke demanded, but Yoroi chuckled, "Not going to happen, pretty boy!"

Suddenly Yoroi grabbed Sasuke's high-collared shirt and chakra was visible through his hand. Sasuke immediately felt his strength fading, "My strength….you….my chakra."

"Exactly!" answered Yoroi, "My kekkei genkai is chakra absorption. Just by touching you, I can suck your chakra from your body."

"Damn you!" Sasuke cursed. He kicked Yoroi off of him and moved away to get some distance, panting hard. Orochimaru, in his Jonin disguise, _**(A/N: Okay, how the hell nobody does realized that the pedophile is in a Henge that looks exactly like him. Same snake eyes, pale face, dark hair…bingo, it's Orochimaru. Okay, I am done with my rant)**_ frowned in thought, _"What is going on? At that low level of chakra, my Curse Seal of Heaven should have reacted by now! Wait a minute…that Uzumaki brat….he knows Fuinjutsu? Did Sarutobi-sensei teach him or that bumbling teammate of mine?" _

He looked over at Naruto and became surprised to see that the Uzumaki was staring back at him dead in the face. What seems to piss Orochimaru off was the smirk that appeared on Naruto's face, the boy raised a gloved finger and pressed it to his finger as if he was keeping quiet about Orochimaru's disguise and the secret to sealing his own seal.

"_I am definitely going to kill you, Naruto Uzumaki after I make you unseal that suppressor seal of yours. You will not interfere in my plans to obtain immortality and the ability to learn all of the jutsu in the world."_ Orochimaru thought angrily.

"Naruto, what are you smirking at?" Kakashi asked.

"The Oto team, they wanted to fight Sasuke, but he failed to acquiesce to their request."

Luckily the Oto team was visibly glaring at Naruto to hold up Kakashi.

Sasuke was in trouble as he dodged Yoroi's chakra sucking hand for the past few minutes. _"Damn it, I can't risk using any chakra due to the seal reacting since Naruto stated that the cursed seal may be able to break through and I can't get too close to him without getting my chakra eaten. What should I do? What can I do?"_ he thought frantically.

Something pulsed on his forearm and Sasuke looked at his forearm to see that a seal appeared on it. _"Huh? Did Naruto give me something when I was asleep….maybe it will help me." _He bit his thumb and wiped it across the seal. Purple chakra surrounded his left hand and lengthened into a sword….the Kusanagi no Tsurugi.

It was a double-edged jian with a sapphire jewel resembling a demon's eye embedding in the middle of the tsuba. "What? What the hell is this thing?" Sasuke asked himself in surprise.

"_Orochimaru-sama gave him the Kusanagi?"_ Yoroi thought in shock.

"_That sword….only one person has that sword, but why did he give Sasuke it?" _Kakashi thought.

"_Oh no."_ Anko thought, _"Not good."_

"_So Orochimaru gave Sasuke the fabled Kusanagi no Tsurugi, the sword that can cut through anything."_ Naruto thought, "Judging by that, I am assuming that Orochimaru is choosing Sasuke as his successor."

Sasuke aimed the Kusanagi at Yoroi and thought, _"Ok, let's see what you can do!"_ He channeled his chakra into the sword and the blade flashed forward, making Yoroi duck his head before the tip pierced the wall.

"_How the hell did he get that sword? Why did Orochimaru-sama give it to him?"_

Sasuke cut off the feed and the Kusanagi reverted back to its original length. _"Now we are definitely getting somewhere."_ He thought with a smirk. The Uchiha charged at Yoroi and swung at him with wild strikes, making the spy dodge to avoid getting hit by it…..but soon Yoroi became tired and Sasuke managed to give Yoroi a scratch on his cheek.

The two of them backed away and Yoroi knelt down, panting, "W-What is h-happening? My b-body….can't move."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, _"Huh? Must be the Kusanagi…..it must be coated with poison that paralyzes the body. I wonder…why would Naruto give this to me?"_ The Kusanagi disappeared back into the seal with the same purple haze as Hayate declared, "Winner: Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke walked back up the stairs and said to Naruto, "Thanks for the sword, Naruto."

"I never gave you that sword, Sasuke, it seems that Orochimaru has a great interest in you to give you that sword and that cursed seal on the left side of your neck."

Sasuke clasped the mark on his neck as Naruto continued, "The seal stores your chakra by eating your own forcibly, causing pain and discomfort, it releases the chakra when activated and puts your body into a heightened state of power, but in turn it eats at your mind and body slowly each time you use it."

Sasuke said, "If that is so, then why I am not feeling any pain from the mark?"

"That is because of the seal I put on top of it, the seal entraps the tainted chakra from the cursed mark. It can be broken if I choose to release it, which is not happening or someone like me does it or your sheer willpower coupled with the desire to kill, if that happens, your body will be paralyzed."

Sasuke nodded and replied, "I didn't know you can use fuinjutsu."

The swordsman replied, "There is a lot of things people don't know about, plus some of the seals I have are to hold back my secondary chakra from use."

Hayate said, "The second match….Zaku Abumi and Shino Aburame, fight."

Zaku attacked first by running close-range, hoping to end it quickly. Shino brought up his arm to block his attack and Zaku said, "Idiot! **Zankuuha!**"

Zaku opened his hand to reveal air holes implanted in his arms and shot a sound wave, blasting Shino off his feet and to the ground. "Heh, he is done."

Shino got up, "Are you sure about that?"

Zaku said, "Tch…this time I will get you for sure. Zank…"

Shino interrupted, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Zaku said, "What the hell are you talking about?" Then he heard a soft clicking sound and looked behind him to see a horde of bugs converging on his position."

Shino said, "The way I see I, you have three choices. The first one is that if you attack me, my kikaichu bugs will attack you and devour your chakra, the second is if you attack my bugs, then I will have the opportunity to attack you. The third, which should be the smart choice for you, is to give up and you will be able to walk away from this without going to the hospital."

Zaku said, "It would be wise not to underestimate me, you forget…"

Zaku turned to his side and aimed his arms at Shino and the bugs, "You forget that I have two arms….I will blast you and your stupid bugs away. **Zankuuha**…aaahhh." Zaku's arms suddenly imploded from the inside and the Oto ninja screamed in pain, "But how….how… my arms?"

Then he saw bugs crawling from his air holes.

Shino said, "You think I would just let you hit me like that? I sent some bugs silently on to your body when you hit me and the rest was able to get to your arms when I stalled for time."

Zaku said, "You bastard!"

Shino ran at him and sent his opponent a devastating punch to the face. Zaku spun briefly before falling on his face.

Hayate said, "Okay, now the third match…..will Sabaku no Kankuro and Misumi Tsurugi please come down to the arena?"

Kankuro said, "Heh, this will be easy enough."

Baki, their sensei said, "Kankuro, don't get cocky."

Kankuro pretended that he didn't hear him at all and continued to the arena. Temari muttered, "That idiot is going to get himself killed." Kankuro stood and faced Misumi, Yoroi's teammate. Misumi said, "Just throw the match or I'll kill you."

Kankuro said, "Sorry, but I plan on winning this match."

Hayate shouted, "Begin!"

Kankuro started things off by throwing a punch to Misumi's face, but the Konoha spy blocked it with his forearm and then something weird happened. Misumi's arm twisted around Kankuro's arm, startling him and allowing Misumi to constrict himself all over Kankuro's body.

"You see, my bloodline allows me to dislocate my bones and become like rubber. Now forfeit the match or your neck will snap."

Kankuro grinned and said, "Never."

Misumi squeezed tighter and tighter until everyone heard Kankuro's neck snap. "Goddamn it, I really didn't want to kill him." Suddenly Kankuro's face started to peel off like ceramic, then Kankuro lifted his head and turned it completely around to reveal that the person Misumi was holding was not a person, but a marionette.

"Now it is my turn!" The puppet said in Kankuro's voice.

Next, the puppet's arms sprang from the cat-suit and wrapped around Misumi's body.

"A puppet? Then where is…." Misumi said. Then he looked toward the bandages to see something moving and a hand popped out to remove it, revealing Kankuro.

"You're a puppet master." Misumi said.

Kankuro said, "That is correct and now I will return the favor, but I won't break your neck instead I will break everything else." Kankuro clenched his fist and the puppet crushed Misumi's bones and making him scream in pain before falling unconscious.

"Like I said, too easy." Kankuro said.

Hayate thought, _"That was close, I almost called the match too soon."_

Kankuro walked back upstairs while the medics came and carried Misumi's broken body.

"Now for the fourth match…will Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka please come down?" Hayate said. The two looked at each other briefly and walked down the stairs.

Naruto, in particular, was not interested in the match, but watched anyway for the amusement. The two fangirls fought using the Academy taijutsu style that they learned. Sakura used the Academy jutsu like the Bunshin and Kawarimi to her advantage while Ino used a unique way to trap Sakura using her hair cut from her ponytail. As the match progressed, everyone knew that the girls were evenly matched and as a result, they both were knocked out at the same time.

"So she is finally on the path of the kunoichis….even though you didn't win and still have that fangirl mentality, you have gotten a bit stronger, Sakura."

Hayate said, "The next match….Sabaku no Temari vs. Tenten

She walked down the stairs to face Temari, who was wearing a confident smirk on her face. "Are the contestants ready?"

Both of the kunoichis nodded in confirmation and Hayate chopped down his hand, "Begin!" Tenten and Temari both jumped back to get some distance between each other, the weapons mistress threw kunai at the wind mistress, but Temari gathered wind-natured chakra to block the kunai away from her.

Tenten said, "What? But that attack was right on."

Naruto thought, _"She is using wind manipulation…bad matchup for Tenten. She has absolutely no chance in winning unless she has a fire jutsu. Since Gai can't do ninjutsu and assuming that Tenten has not asked anyone to teach her ninjutsu, Tenten has a major disadvantage."_

Temari unclasped her fan and opened it up to reveal a purple moon on the fan. "This is the first moon, girl. When you see all three, the match will be over."

Tenten gritted her teeth as she racked her brain, _"How is she doing that? She is not using any hand signs or nothing, but yet my attacks can get through." _

Tenten ran at Temari and threw kunai at all directions as she thought, "_This should work."_ But again the attack failed and Temari swung her fan to blow back Tenten and her weapons. "You are on the second moon, sister. Look, it's over, your weapons aren't effective against my style, which has been proven twice." Temari said.

Tenten unclasped the two scrolls on her hips and Lee said quietly, "Tenten….you are not thinking of using that technique, aren't you?"

Tenten thought, _"I have no choice, this move should be able to pierce that wind defense of hers….I can't lose here, there is someone that I want to fight here."_ Tenten placed the two scrolls apart from each other and bit her thumb, drawing blood. "Well, like they always say the third time is the charm! **Soshoryu!"** she shouted.

The two scrolls burst and twirled around Tenten, she flew up and levitated in the middle. She grabbed one of the scrolls in air and began to flip in around her until the scroll unfurled around her. Then she swiped her blood on the markings, making various weapons popped out in existence.

Then Tenten threw the weapons one by one at Temari, who swung her fan to make the weapons blow off course and stab or fall on the ground around her. Tenten smirked and brought her hands back to her body and to everyone's surprise, the weapons came back to her.

Kakashi said, "Very clever, she used wires to attack to the weapons….clever girl that Gai got."

Temari said, "Sorry, today is not your day….you lose, princess." Temari swung her fan while shouting, **"Ninpou: Kamaitachi no Jutsu!"** The weapons were blown back once again and Tenten was trapped in a wind cyclone, where she was slashed up by invisible blades of wind.

Tenten fell to the ground, but Temari caught her in her arms before she fell to the ground. Naruto caught the unconscious Tenten before she hit the ground and gave her to the medics. "You held back, Miss Temari."

"I didn't want to hurt her too badly after I realized that she had no ninjutsu."

"I see….congratulations on your win."

"Winner: Sabaku no Temari."

"Thank you, Naruto-san."

Naruto moved to his original spot only for Kakashi to say, "It's your turn now, Naruto." The Jinchuuriki looked at the board to see his name paired with Kiba Inuzaka. "The sixth match….Naruto Uzumaki and Kiba Inuzaka. BEGIN!" Hayate said, coughing.

"You really need to get your lungs checked again, Hayate-san." Naruto said with a smile.

"I know….Yugao wants to spar with you again."

"Sure, I will see her for training."

Kiba asked, "You going to talk to the proctor all day or fight me?"

Naruto took out First Tsurugi and slammed it into the nearby wall, then summoned Masamune and threw it past Kiba to rest at the top of the hand statue.

"What are you doing?"

"Mainly I have been using my bloodline and swords for the longest while, so I figured that I will show something new."

Naruto stretched his gloves and moved into a stance as he continued, "Like my skills as a ninja, plus I think I should give you a fair chance at fighting me hand to hand, Kiba."

"Fine…it is whatever you like, I will still beat you."

Kurenai thought, _"Kiba has the strongest taijutsu style here besides Hinata, Lee and Neji. Naruto may be great with kenjutsu, but taijutsu is Kiba's forte."_

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Is Akamaru fighting with you, Kiba?" Akamaru barked and Naruto smirked, "I will take that as a yes. I won't go easy on you two."

"Of course, Akamaru fights with me….me and him are a team."

"Well, then it is your move, Kiba."

"Gladly! Akamaru, stay back for a minute. **Ninpou: Shikyaku no Jutsu!**" Kiba's arms and legs were charged with chakra, his nails became sharper like a beast.

"**Interesting."** Sephiroth said.

"**BEAST MODE! Hehehe…..sorry, was watching Beast Wars…..good show by the way."** Ayane said.

"**This should be fun…..what is stronger, Tifa's martial arts or Kiba's clan taijutsu?"** Cloud commented.

Kiba flashed forward and slammed his elbow into Naruto's gut. The boy skidded back and stopped, Naruto spat out a bit of blood. "Is that all you got? You hit hard, but it will not be enough to beat me into submission, Kiba."

"What did you say?"

"I'm saying by letting you hit me, I am gauging how hard you hit….and it is not going to help you with this match. This will be fun."

Naruto flashed in front of Kiba, "My turn…..**Beat Rush!**" Kiba's eyes widened as the hits came at his body, and then he flew back toward Akamaru's position. "Alright, Akamaru, tag in." The two sprang up and ran at Naruto. Kiba took out a smoke bomb and threw at Naruto, obscuring the Jinchuuriki's vision.

"A smoke bomb, eh? **Fuuton: Daitoppa!**" Naruto said. The smoke cleared just as Kiba and Akamaru started to attack. Naruto caught Akamaru by the scruff of his neck and threw him at the flying Kiba. Kiba and Akamaru fell to the floor while Naruto stood calmly in front of them, waiting for their next move.

"That's it….Akamaru, let's stop fooling around!" Kiba shouted as he gave Akamaru a soldier pill and ate one himself. Akamaru's fur turned red and then he jumped on top of Kiba. _"Well, at least I know why he is named Akamaru now."_ Naruto thought. **"Ninpou: Jujin Bunshin no Jutsu!"**

"Two?"

"Take this! **Gatsuuga!**" Kiba and Akamaru moved at Naruto while spinning rapidly like a drill. The Jinchuuriki ran toward the wall and backflipped off over it to avoid the move. _"They are spinning way too fast for me to stop them without injuring myself and I don't want to use any Mako energy. Let's see… ah, that might actually work." _Naruto thought.

The swordsman reached behind him and dug out a smoke bomb before Kiba and Akamaru could reach him. Kiba and Akamaru coughed and sputtered while they held their noses, "This smoke…..it's pungent. What are you up to?"

"Never thought I would use one of my old smoke bombs from my Academy days, but it has served its purpose."

Kiba whirled around to see Naruto with his arms crossed, "I win, **Velvet Nightmare**…."

Suddenly wind began to pick up and swirl around Kiba until it became darkness. "What….what is this? A Genjutsu? Ha! Idiot, doesn't he know that my sensei is the Crimson Genjutsu Mistress! **Kai!**"

Nothing happened…..

"What? Kai! Kai! Kai! Why isn't it working?"

Suddenly a portal came out of thin air and Akamaru entered out of it. "Hey, Akamaru, come on…..we are in a Genjutsu….Akamaru?"

The seemingly cute and gentle puppy began to growl and his eyes glowed with evil intent. He struck at Kiba, who screamed as his best friend tore into him savagely. Suddenly the pain ended and Kiba was thrust back into the real world.

Akamaru was unconscious to his side and Naruto was sitting before him Indian style with First Tsurugi and Masamune on his left and right side respectively. "Velvet Nightmare…..my personal Genjutsu that I made, it makes you see your worst fears. Your nightmare happened to be the betrayal of your best friend Akamaru."

"But….how did you…..how were you…."

"Able to keep you in the Genjutsu even when you did the release. Easy, I made Velvet Nightmare suited to me, it is continuous as long as the user has chakra. Plus the Genjutsu is multi-layered even your sensei would be exhausted after using it…..if I deemed her worthy of learning it. I have a lot of chakra and if I wished it….I could have kept you in that realm for a whole day straight."

Kiba gulped as Naruto's blue green eyes bore into his soul as he said, "So would you like to experience it a second time or forfeit? If not….then take a look behind you." Kiba looked to see a clone ready to cast it. Kiba smiled and chuckled a bit, "You have changed a lot since I seen you last time, Naruto…..fine, I forfeit. But I will beat you next time."

Naruto smirked, "You can try anytime, Kiba."

"Winner: Naruto Uzumaki. Now the seventh match…..Neji Hyuga and Hinata Hyuga."

Kiba said, "This isn't good."

Naruto said nothing as he watched Neji glare at Hinata.

As Naruto and Kiba past Hinata, Naruto spoke, "Hinata…."

"Yes, Naruto-kun….."

"Do your best, I could care less if you beat Neji…..but if you are able to stand up to him and fight, you would be strong in my eyes. Besides you could beat him with one hand sign but that method is excruciating to him and you."

She nodded and went down while Kiba whispered, "Are you nuts? He will kill her, she is part of the Main House family."

"Would you rather for her to run away from all of her problems…..she will have to face him sooner or later, plus…..it looks bad on our village status. I don't like this anymore that you do, Kiba, but it's the best and only option Hinata has for her to grow. If he shows ill will, I will stop the match…"

Neji and Hinata faced each other. Neji spoke first, "I never thought that I would be facing you." Hinata replied quietly, "Neji-nii-san." Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "Never knew that Hinata had a brother." Kakashi replied, "That is because they aren't Sasuke…they are members of the Hyuga clan, but they are not brother and sister."

Sakura asked the silver-haired jonin, "So then…what are they?" Kakashi said, "They are members of the Hyuga's Main and Branch Houses." Lee said, "Hinata is part of the Main House, while Neji is in the Branch House."

Sakura asked, "So why does Neji look mad at her for?"

Lee said, "Many things happened between both houses and they are at odds right now."

Naruto said, "Hinata would not dare hurt her cousin, but Neji will. This is a bad match-up if he does anything serious."

Hayate shouted, "Begin!"

Neji said, "Before we begin, I like to speak freely, Hinata-sama….you don't make a good shinobi, forfeit the match." Hinata's eyes widened and she looked to the side.

Neji continued, "You are too kind, you wish for peace and avoid conflict…you agree with others, never resisting. You have no confidence in yourself and the Chunin Exam could be taken as a team of three…you couldn't turn down the request, couldn't you?"

Hinata said, "N-No, I w-wanted to change myself…do something on my own." Neji said, "As I thought….Hinata-sama, you are a spoiled brat of the Main Family. People can't change themselves, losers will always be losers. Their personality and strength can't change at all."

Naruto frowned as he thought, _"Immediately I don't like his ass at all for saying that."_

The destiny jackass continued, "Because people can't change, differences were born and the terms loser and elite were created. Looks, brains, personality, ability, size…all people judge and are judged in these values. Based on these unchangeable factors, people discriminate and are discriminated against and then they suffer under their own means. Just like the fact that you were born in the Main Family and I in the Branch."

Naruto thought, _"Okay, this guy is really pissing me off with this destiny shit he is spouting out of his ass."_

Neji said, "I can see through you with my Byakugan…you are acting strong, but really you want to run and hide."  
Hinata retorted feebly, "N-No, I really…"

Sakura said, "What is the Byakugan?"

Kakashi said, "In terms of insight, it surpasses the Sharingan. There are rumors that the Uchiha clan originates from the Hyuga clan."

Neji activated the Byakugan for an intimidation tactic, making Hinata's eye move in the upper left corner, then the lower right corner and she touched her pointer finger to her mouth.

Neji smirked smugly, "Like I said, I can see through. Your eye went up to the upper left meaning you are remembering your painful past, then in the lower right, that is a sign that you are imagining physical and mental pain…you are imagining that you are going to lose!"

Hinata flinched, raising her arms as Neji continued, "Raising your arms in front of yourself means that you are trying to distance yourself from me because everything that I predicted was true. Furthermore, touching your lip is a personality trait that reveals a disturbance, you are trying to soften the nervousness that you feel. So in basic reality, you haven't realized that you can't change your fate!"

Naruto replied, "For someone that has an icicle stuck up his ass, you are pretty pathetic. You make your destiny…Hinata has the choice whether or not to become strong, not fate. It is nonexistent when it comes to ninja."

Then the Hyuga jackass looked at Hinata, her eyes filled with determination, "So you won't forfeit, then I will not be responsible for what happens here." Hinata activated her Byakugan as she thought, "_I will not run away…I will no longer…run away!"_

The Hyuga heiress then slipped into the Hyuga stance, "Neji-niisan, let's fight!" Neji slipped into the same stance, "Fine..." Both of them charged at each other. Lee said, "I thought so, their stances are similar to each other, the same Hyuga style." Sakura said, "Hyuga style?" Lee answered, "That style…is the strongest taijutsu.

Hinata and Neji fiercely battled and mesmerized the audience with the deadly dance of death. Hinata's flexibility against Neji's knowledge and control of chakra were clashed between each other, each trying to overpower and gained the upper hand. Then Hinata saw an opening and aimed her chakra at Neji's torso, catching a scratch on him.

Neji stepped back, clutching his chest, "Ugh!"

Naruto smiled, "Go, Hinata, you kick his ass. Prove to him that you are not weak." He said quietly as he watched her.

Sakura said, "But she only barely hit him."

Lee said, "That is the thing…a slight scratch is all it takes. That is all it needs."

Sakura said, "Explain, Lee-kun."

Gai stepped in, "The Hyuga style taijutsu has been passed down. The taijutsu Lee and I used, Goken, is solely for bruises and breaking bones while the Hyuga style, Juken, causes damage to the chakra network. It may not look impressive, but you feel the aftereffects as the battle progresses." Hinata fought, pressuring Neji to go on the defensive.

Shino thought, "_Hinata's in control of the battle…Naruto, you actually gave her the confidence to stand up for herself and now I am seeing the true Hinata Hyuga."_

Kurenai thought, _"Hinata…"_

Sakura said, "So they attack the chakra network system."

Naruto said, "Anybody can utilize this style by knowing the anatomy of the body well, but their Byakugan helps them perfect the style…since they can see the chakra network." Hinata and Neji jumped back from a moment and clashed into. "Did she get him?" Sakura said loudly. Hinata coughed up blood, shocking everyone. Neji said, "So this is the extent of the Main Family household."

Hinata thought as she knocked Neji's arm away and aimed at his head, _"Not yet!"_ Neji's eyes widened as he quickly reacted by grabbing her arm and pressing a point. Then he pulled back her sleeves to show red dot-like bruises on her arms. "No way…from the beginning, you…"Hinata said.

"Exactly, I have stopped your flow of chakra in your arms. You can no longer utilize the Jyuken style against me, it was fated that you will lose." Hinata was knocked back in the chest and she skidded a few feet away from him.

She struggled to get up as Neji said, "Hinata-sama, there is a difference in talent that will never change between us…the difference that makes you the loser and me the elite. This reality cannot be changed, from the moment you said you did not want to run, you were setting yourself up for regret, you should be overcome with desperation. Forfeit!"

As that moment, Hinata stood up, "I…don't…go back…on my word…because that is also my nindo…my ninja way."Naruto smirked as he thought, _"She stole my nindo, heh, go get him, Hinata!"_The Kyuubi jailer shouted, "Go get him, Hinata, show him what you can do."

"_She is at her limit…any more damage and she'll…"_ Kurenai thought in panic. Kakashi said, _"This Neji is quite formidable…I doubt that Sasuke or Naruto will be able to beat him."_ Gai thought, _"She can't defeat him…Neji would most likely survive this test."_ Gaara looked intently at the fight, who knew what thoughts were going through his unstable mind.

Hinata looked up at Naruto and the Jinchuuriki smiled and nodded. The heiress then charged at her cousin. She thought, "Naruto-kun…I have always watched you for years. I don't know why, but when I look at you, I feel like I can do anything. I feel courage…I feel like I am worth something, that is how I began to feel." Neji blocked her arm and raised his palm to plant a strike to the chin. She skidded back only to charge at him once again.

Kurenai thought_, "Hinata…you used to always quit…I know better than anyone else about the tough training you put yourself into. You would fail missions and were weak when it mattered the most, eventually losing your confidence quickly. But…that child is no more because the woman I see has changed._"

Hinata thought to herself, _"I have always watched you, Naruto-kun…but now you are the one watching me."_

Neji attacked Hinata in the chest as he said, "You understand nothing, your attacks have done nothing since the beginning."

"Why…Why do you persist on standing? If you keep on pushing yourself, you will die." Neji asked.

Hinata thought, _"Because the person that I admire is finally watching me."_

The Hyuga princess declared, "It's not over!"

Neji scoffed, "Acting touch is futile, I can see that you can barely stand at all. From the time of your birth, the responsibilities of the Main Family were pressed upon you. You have always hated your weakness, but people can't change Fate. There is no need to suffer, so let it go!"

Hinata replied softly, but strongly, "You are wrong, Neji…because that person that is suffering and lost in the destinies of the Main and Branch families is actually you."

Neji moved to attack Hinata until he was stopped by Naruto holding Masamune in his left hand and holding Hinata in his right. "Protection for the Main Branch?" he said with a sneer. "No….protection for you from the real me…." Naruto said emotionally.

Neji looked behind him to see Masamune poking the area near his heart and the Jonin were holding Naruto back. "Naruto, calm down…..you can beat him in the next round." Kakashi said. "I know….I am just making a point to Neji about why you shouldn't mess with a fallen angel's friends."

"Whatever, but here is some advice. A loser will always be a loser and second, it is rude to talk during a serious match."

"And here is some advice to you, stop sucking your deceased father's small microscopic probe he calls a dick and get that 10 foot by 5 inch icicle dildo that you affectionally call Fate out of your ass." Neji wanted to attack, but he was reminded of the point near his heart once again. "And pray that we don't meet in the exam because in the words of my sempai's friend…..I am going to make you my bitch."

_**Hakureisaiga-Uh huh, Naruto is definitely going on Sephiroth on Neji's ass…but what sword will he use, the whole series of First Tsurugi or Masamune.**_


	9. Sadistic Plotting and Training

_**VFSNAKE- Eccentric, ne?**_

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_**Animefanbren-Hehehe**_

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_**Crazy ass ssj nin- Thanks**_

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_**Nobother- Thanks**_

_**Fan of Fanfics21- Oh, I am definitely doing all that and more**_

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_**Garrett42000- Well, I meant Sephiroth considering how sadistic he can be…but I count that as a vote. **_

_**Naruhina fan- All right**_

_**Raw666-Exactly**_

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_**T-Biggz- Not a bad idea and yes, this is my massive harem fic**_

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_**Shin-Kai1007- One vote for Cloud, one vote for both, one vote for Sephiroth**_

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_**Shraikor- Thanks and Neji will go down….hard**_

_**Jest795- Hehe, sadistic ideas downloading**_

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_**Hee-Ho Master- Thanks, I will**_

**Chapter 9- Sadistic Plotting and Training**

As the fights proceeded, Shikamaru won his match by having Kin smash her head against the wall. Sabaku no Gaara won his match against Rock Lee, who made an amazing effort to beat him, but his double-edged technique took him out early. Gaara was able to destroy Lee's chance of being a ninja, but Naruto and Gai were able to stop him.

The last match was Choji Akimichi against Dosu Kinuta. Dosu used his Melody Arm to make Choji unconscious since the water in his body was able to carry sound. Then the contestants that won their matches had to draw lots to see who faced who and Naruto smirked as he was fighting in the first match against Neji.

The rules were explained that they had to wait an entire month to face their opponents to gain new skills, but Naruto knew that it was a cover-up.

As soon as Naruto was giving the get-go, he moved away only to be stopped by Sasuke momentarily. "Wait….Naruto…." he said.

"Yes?"

"Who was your kenjutsu teacher? I need to know, so I can use the Kusanagi better."

Naruto paused for a second and said, "My teacher is dead now unfortunately, Sasuke…..and he begged me to not share his style with anyone…..plus the style is not suited for you."

"What do you mean?"

"The style is called Vanishing Angel…..it requires a lot of speed to actually use, speed that surpasses Maito Gai's own. Using that speed puts a lot of strain on your body and then your legs will be destroyed in the process….the only reason why I can pull this off is because of my healing factor that I seem to possess."

Sasuke was a bit disappointed that he couldn't learn the style Naruto possessed. "Try asking Kakashi since he is training you already. He used to be the commander of the ANBU Black Ops, so he should know about kenjutsu." Naruto suggested.

"How did you get so strong…..you are at least Jonin level in kenjutsu alone since you defeated Zabuza. How long have you been able to keep this a secret?"

"Since I was four…..which is the usual age where clan children started to train. My teacher found me in the alley, looking for food. He was very old and needs someone to teach his styles too, he noticed something that was similar in me and decided to teach me…we found a secluded cave and we went there to train."

Naruto paused and then continued, "I knew that it would be suspicious of me having this much power considering people had hated me, so I played the idiot and made sure that everyone had believed me."

"Why do they hate you?"

"That is another story…that I am not ready to reveal just yet, but I will tell you guys sometime. Now have fun with Kakashi."

Sasuke thought, "Naruto….why does this village doesn't like you and what is it that you are not telling me?"

Next, Naruto literally threw himself into training with the help of Haku of course. She needed the training, knowing Orochimaru was the type to try something. He analyzed that Neji was a master of the Juken style and made out several scenarios just in case he would have any unknown surprises.

"_Let's see, Masamune, First Tsurugi or dual wielding both. Masamune can be used to give Neji quick and very painful strikes, First Tsurugi provides brutality along with the Omnislash. Hmmmm…..decisions, decisions…"_

"**Remember, Naruto, don't kill him….make him suffer and feel pain…..lots of it."** Cloud said.

"_Never knew you would suggest sadistic things, Cloud-sensei."_

"**I was in the same position as you when Sephiroth killed Aerith, she has many qualities of Hinata, but she was a lot different."**

"_I know….you told me that she was kind, always spoke her mind and forgave someone without hesitation. It's a shame that she died physically."_

"**Physically?"** questioned Cloud.

"_What I mean is that as long as you never forget the good times that you had shared with her, she will be with you always. You can still hear her voice if you listen to your heart."_

Cloud chuckled, **"Never took you for the sentimental deep person, Naruto."**

"_Well, Cloud-sensei, between the four of us…..we have a blond with a brooding complex like the Uchihas, a silver-haired man with a god complex that is borderline confidence and arrogance and a nine tailed vixen with a blood fetish….someone has to be deep and charming in this group."_

Cloud laughed, **"And he got a sense of humor….you still have your old self floating around somewhere."**

"_But of course….I can't be a clone of you and Sephiroth-sensei." _

"**Right….oh, you better pay attention now."**

Naruto blinked to avoid a strike from Haku and noticed that she was tired. "Alright, Haku-chan, that's enough." The Hyoton user protested, "But I can still….." She wobbled to the side and Naruto instantly caught her before she hit the ground.

"Unfortunately you don't have the benefits of a Jinchuuriki with mountains of stamina. Now hold on tight." The swordsman released his wings and flew toward his home. Haku clutched at him tightly to his chest as he soared through the air, she looked down to see the village stretching out wide.

Finally he arrived at their home and landed neatly on the porch of the mansion. The angelic man said, "You can let go now, Haku-chan." When she didn't answer, he looked down to see that Haku fell asleep on the way, causing the boy to smile. "She is an amazing woman, that she is."

Sephiroth replied, **"Indeed she is…."**

Naruto moved through the door and set Haku down in her bed, but with a little difficulty. Haku was latched on to him tightly and Naruto had to make a clone to replace himself. Then he left to go see to Hinata in the hospital.

When he reached there, he saw that Sakura was there, trying to find the whereabouts of Sasuke. "But he was supposed to be here…." She mused out loud. "Calm down, Sakura…Sasuke is fine." Sakura turned to see Naruto and said, "Naruto…..do you know where Sasuke is?"

"Training with Kakashi-sensei outside the village somewhere…..knowing him, he wants to get stronger than ever."

Sakura looked downtrodden a bit until Naruto continued, "Don't worry, Sakura…he will be fine, he is stronger than you think despite what has happen to him in the past with his brother."

"Brother?" She said, and then she thought back to that day when they first introduced themselves as the new Team 7. "Right….he was your blood brother."

"Yes, Itachi was someone that I respect still to this day. A great ninja and an even greater friend."

"But now he is a murderer…."

"All ninja are murderers, Sakura….in this world, it is kill or be killed. If I know Itachi, he never does anything without a reason, especially when it involves killing."

"What?" Sakura asked, puzzled.

"When Itachi fought in the Third Great Shinobi War and saw the destruction that the Kyuubi made when it was released, he became a pacifist…..he only killed when it was necessary. So in my theory, either Itachi is dead and someone impersonated him or someone else was manipulating him in the shadows. The latter sounds very profound to me…..but that is my opinion, not saying if it is true or not."

"When did you get so smart, Naruto?"

"Et tu, Sakura? There are certain…..conditions that happened in the past involving me, thus the Academy instructors except Iruka-sensei disliked me and made attempts to hinder my judgment. I foresaw this and snuck into the library to study on everything while making myself look like I was an idiot."

Sakura said, "Okay, Naruto….but I mean, there is so much that we don't know about you….you took on Orochimaru and actually kept up, you defeated Zabuza Momochi. Plus after years of pretending, you suddenly assume this persona of being smart and highly skilled…..most Genin can't even attain that strength even if you train so young like Hinata did."

"I had a lot of help….my teachers were sadists basically and I trained until I became unconscious. Nothing more, nothing less….now if you will excuse me, I am going to see Hinata-chan." He began to walk to Hinata's room and stopped for a moment, "Oh, and Sakura….in the meantime, you should train considering that Sasuke only acknowledges strong kunoichi."

"How do you know that?"

"Haven't you noticed that back in the Academy, Sasuke never once looked, spoke or even breathe your way? It was because you were simply fan girls looking for love instead of focusing on your skills. Girls like Hinata, Temari and Tenten are what he is looking for….that way he doesn't have to play the part of the prince saving the damsel in distress."

Then he left, leaving Sakura in her thoughts. Naruto found Hinata's room and walked inside quietly to see that Hinata was sleeping. Then he heard a gravelly voice, "I knew that you would come here, Uzumaki…."

Naruto said calmly without turning, "Why, hello, Gaara….do you mind telling me what are you doing in here? You know, if you wanted to see me, you could have asked around."

Gaara answered, "Asking people for directions is trivial…..plus you showed great care for this woman back at the stadium, so this was the fastest and easiest way to find you. I wanted to ask you something."

"And what is that, Gaara-san?"

"Why do you exist?"

"Excuse me?"

"Why do you exist? What is your purpose in living in this world, Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Why do I exist? It's because…..of my friends. They are the reason that I exist, the reason that I fight….to protect them from anyone and anything from harming them. I assume that you think differently, right?

Gaara smirked and chuckled a bit, "My father, the Yondaime Kazekage forced my mother, Karura to seal the Ichibi no Shukaku inside me. Before her death, my mother cursed my father for condemning her life and her son's own as well as his sanity. When I became too strong for him to control, he sent assassins including my uncle Yashamaru after me….he hated me because I took his sister away by living. My sand, a gift from my mother, always protects me from harm.'

Naruto replied, "Why do you feel the need to tell me this, Gaara?"

"Because our eyes are the same, but we have different reasons of existence. I want to see whose reason of existence is stronger? Your existence for friends or my existence for myself."

"Funny, we are similar. My own father, the Yondaime Hokage sealed the Kyuubi inside me….but I had friends who acknowledged my existence even though I was abused as a child. When we fight, one shall rise while the other shall fall." Naruto said, facing his brother.

Gaara gave Naruto a psychotic grin, "I will look forward to it….Uzumaki Naruto." Then the Ichibi container disappeared via Suna Shunshin. Naruto looked over to see Hinata was still sleeping. "Good, she didn't hear anything….I am still not ready to tell her yet, I better go. Sweet dreams, Hinata."

Then the Jinchuuriki left via his own personal shunshin, leaving behind a white and black feather respectively. The next day, Naruto went down to the hot springs to relax after a strict regimen of training.

"Hmmmm…." Naruto murmured as he slipped into the water. Then he heard giggling and cracked open one eye to see a middle-aged man peeking through a makeshift hole. He had white hair, wearing kabuki-style attire and was sitting on top of a toad.

"Jiraiya of the Toad Sannin, eh? Looks like I can blow off some steam from Neji after all." Naruto thought. The swordsman got out of the water and got his clothes on, took out First Tsurugi in its initial form and swung at the pervert.

The man jumped up to avoid the slash and landed on his feet behind Naruto, "Who the hell are you, gaki? Go away, you are interrupting my research."

"Me….I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and more importantly, your fucking godson."

Jiraiya's eyes widened as Naruto appeared before him and stabbed at him. The pervert avoided the thrust and said, "So you know…"

"Yeah, I fucking know….now get over here, so I can kick your ass." Jiraiya winced at the venom in his voice. "Now look…." He started to say, but Naruto interrupted him.

"No, you look….I can understand about your prowess with infiltration and espionage, but you could have visited once in a while. Do you know what I have been through?" Jiraiya watched as the sadness and pain was shown through his godson's eyes.

"More than enough….no words can express my regret, so to make up for it…..I will train you for the Chunin Exams."

"You better…..and it is going to take a long while for me to get my forgiveness. Now what do you have for me?"

"I could teach you summoning?"

"Try again….I got that covered already and no, I am not going to tell you what it is." Naruto said, interrupting.

"Hmm, how about your father's prized jutsu….the Rasengan." Jiraiya said and Naruto thought about it for a moment.

"Fine…show me…" Naruto said. Jiraiya took out his hand and made an orb of spinning chakra and the Jinchuuriki said, "Alright, I am intrigued….what is the first step?" Jiraiya took out a water balloon and said, "First, you must pop this water balloon using only your chakra….when you are done, come back and I will show you the second step."

Naruto nodded and left while Jiraiya thought, _"Damn, he is good with that sword of his….I wonder who taught him though."_

**Night-** Gaara stood on top of a building looking at the moon until a voice said, "It looks like I wouldn't be able to catch you off guard. I am going to need you to die…so I can fight Sasuke. I wonder what is faster my sound or your sand."

Gaara looked down to see that it was Dosu and simply said, "It gets agitated when a full moon appears."

"What?" Dosu said. Then his eyes widened as Gaara transformed and killed him in a instant.

"Wow, so that is his true form." A mysterious figure said.

Baki replied, "Yes, but is that alright? He was a Sound nin…"

The figure replied, "Nah, it is alright….he serves his purpose."

Baki said, "But I thought he was supposed to gage that Sasuke kid's strength."

Unknowingly, Hayate was listening in on the conversation, "Why? Him and the Sand are conversing?" he thought. The figure said with a smile on his face, "There was no need for that anyway, I was actually given orders to abduct Sasuke-kun, but I failed too."

Baki's lone eye narrowed, "What?"

"They found out that I was a spy for the Hidden Sound Village."

"Do you realize that if someone finds out that you are here meeting with me…our plans to crush the Leaf will be ruined? I had heard that you are Orochimaru's right hand, but I wasn't expecting you to fail and meet me after you have been discovered by the Leaf."

Kabuto chuckled, "Actually, they never did find me out….I uncovered my identity on my own free will. I wanted to see the reaction with that information, taking Sasuke after that will not be a problem at all."

Baki replied, "If it appears that you are failing, and then the Sand will withdraw. You came up with this plan and present it to us. We will remain hidden in the shadows until the last moment, this is the Kazekage's will."

Hayate's eyes widened, _"How can this…"_

Kabuto handed Baki a scroll as he said, "Here are our plans….also it is time that they know about the plan as well, so please inform them."

"Got it…"

Hayate thought, _"Our ally has already connected with the Sound….I must inform Hokage-sama about this."_

Unfortunately, the two collaborating ninja heard Hayate move and Kabuto said, Oh, one more thing….I will clean up here. I want to test what kind of guys they have moving around here."

Baki replied, "No, I will do it…..as a partner, Suna should do something too. Plus it is only one rat, no problem."

Hayate whispered, "Shit!" He moved via Shunshin, but Baki was able to catch him. "Well, Examiner-san, what are you doing out here at this time of night?" Baki said casually. Hayate said, "Looks like I got to fight my way out of this one."

Hayate took out his sword and said, "**Konoha no Ryu: Mikazuki no Mai!**" Hayate split into three clones and stabbed Baki. "Ugh….Kage Bunshins….but the Mikazuki no Mai only used illusion clones." Baki said in surprise.

"A friend of mine helped me improve this move with it."

Kabuto's voice said, "Would that be Naruto-kun?" Hayate's eyes widened and Kabuto struck his heart using his Chakura no Mesu. "Looks like this rat was a bit elusive that you thought…." Kabuto said to Baki, who was clutching his shoulder wound.

Baki said simply, "**Fuuton: Kage no Yaiba!**"

"Damn it….Y-Yugao…." Hayate muttered as he fell. _"Well, at least I died fighting and my last memory is of you, Yugao-hime and Naruto…..please protect her." _

Later that night, Naruto was up due to his planning and just then a knock came at the door. Naruto closed his book that he was reading and moved to the door. He opened to see Yugao with tears in her eyes.

"Yugao….what are you doing here and what happened?"

She sniffed and ran into Naruto's chest. "H-He's dead…."

"Who is dead? The Hokage?"

"N-No….H-Hayate, somebody k-killed him. One of the Jonin found his body, cut from the shoulder up. The crows were near his body."

Naruto's eyes widened as the description and asked, "Do you know who did it?" Yugao shook her head silently as she sobbed in his chest. Naruto stroked her hair and said, "It is okay, Yugao….you will be staying here tonight, alright?" Naruto held her close as he led her inside his house.

He set her on the couch and made a Kage Bunshin just in case she decided to do something crazy. He made some tea and brought it to her as he thought, "Something tells me that this had Orochimaru's hand all over this one. I am going to make him suffer for this outrage…..I will make sure of that."

The Jinchuuriki sat beside her and Yugao whispered, "I can't believe that he is gone….we were going to get married in a month from now." Naruto replied, "I know….we will get the person who did this, Yugao. I swear it….we will make him or her suffer for killing Hayate."

"Heh, knowing him….he didn't go down without a fight. Did he have a smile on his face?" Naruto said with a mirthless chuckle.

"Yeah…he did. How did you know?"

"He always told me that if he died, he would have a smile on his face because he was thinking of you for his last memory. I laughed….I thought he was joking because he was going to live a long life with you at his side." Naruto replied back to her seriously.

_**(Sanctuary-After the Battle by Utada Hikaru plays)**_

Yugao began to cry and Naruto took her in his arms once again and just held her. "Hayate….he also told me something else….he told me that if something happened to him, I was to take care of you, Yugao…..I promise that I will do it for Hayate and find his killer."

Yugao said nothing, but continued to cry and Naruto held her close. Finally Yugao fell asleep on his chest and Naruto listened to her breathing to slowly fall asleep. "I will make you pay….Orochimaru…."

**Somewhere near Konoha- **Orochimaru reached for his medicine cup and the cup shattered completely, making the Snake Sannin unnerved. _"That is not a good sign…..heh, somebody must be really upset with me." _The snake thought to himself.

_**Hakureisaiga- Whew, there we go…another chapter of the Heartless Angel. Next, a bit of Naruto's training….maybe a date with Haku if I feel like it. Would you like that? Also poor Yugao and Hayate, I am sorry that I had to kill him, but I made the swordsman go out better than Kishimoto.**_


	10. Welcome to the Finals!

_**Hakureisaiga: Before we begin, I need to explain how First Tsurugi works, Vigilante is the main blade that Cloud Strife and to form First Tsurugi, it must go in order from Vendetta, Merciless, Avenger, Ascalon and Sidewinder. Go to my profile for a picture of the blades if you need an visual look**_

**Chapter 10- Welcome to the Finals**

Naruto was ready for action; he had trained vigorously with Haku, Yugao and Jiraiya for his fight against Neji and his other opponents as well as for the invasion. Over the course of the month, the Jinchuuriki had decided to use both of them all on Neji, but First Tsurugi would be reserved for Orochimaru or the bastard that killed his friend.

He walked into the stadium, calm and reserved until he heard the loud roars of the audience. Shikamaru turned to see his comrade, "Hey, you made it…"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world, Shikamaru." The Jinchuuriki replied with a soft smile, then he glanced around, "Hmm, where is Sasuke and that Dosu character?" Then he noticed the new proctor, Genma Shiranui with his usual senbon in his mouth.

"Look alive, all of you…you are the entertainers for today's show." He said as he rummaged in his Jonin flak jacket, "Also I want you all to take a good look at the matches; there have been some slight chances in them."

Naruto looked to see that the matches were now even, but his match hasn't changed at all. "Now will all of the contestants except Neji Hyuga and Naruto Uzumaki please proceed to the stands?" The potential Chunins left the arena, leaving Naruto and Neji facing each other, the Jinchuuriki smirked as he noticed the Hyuga with a naginata.

"So the Hyuga clan does have an actual fighting style rather than groping people, huh?"

Neji growled, "Your fate is to lose to me, Uzumaki."

"I beg to differ, Hyuga…I believe that it will only take two seconds to kick your ass, but you made the wrong decision in trying to kill Hinata, so I am going to drag this out by making you suffer."

"The first match: Naruto Uzumaki versus Neji Hyuga! Fight!"

Neji charged just as Naruto pulled out Vigilante as well as its first compartment, Vendetta. The Hyuga came down with his weapon in a downward arc, but the Jinchuuriki blocked it with Vendetta and kicked Neji in the stomach.

Naruto melded the front side blade into Vigilante and took out the next back blade, which had a serrated edge…its name was Avenger. Soon the seal on his pack summoned the last piece just as Neji recovered.

The white-eyed boy said, "Your fate is sealed, there is no way you can defeat me…"

"Well, aren't you arrogant? I am the one that is kicking your stomach and I have defied time after time again…it looks like that to make you see the truth, I will have to give you a present." Naruto flashed in front of Neji, who flinched in shock, "Shall I give you despair?"

The Jinchuuriki slashed down at the Hyuga, who shouted, "Kaiten!" He began to spin completely in a perfect circle, with a dome of chakra and it repelled Naruto and his attack. "Ah, the famous Kaiten , such a technique…but I believe that is reserved for the Main Family only. Well, aren't you the hypocrite."

"What?"

"I thought the Branch Family was supposed to be weaker in terms of strength, yet you have defied that fate."

Neji gritted his teeth, "You haven't seen nothing yet…"

Naruto equipped Merciless and Avenger as he replied, "Neither have you…" Tenten said to herself, "Naruto is fast and strong, he has the advantage over Neji, the Kaiten and the naginata that I gave him is the only matter of defense, but why doesn't he finish it?"

"It is because that he is toying with him." A voice said and Tenten looked up to see a purple-haired woman with an ANBU Cat mask. "ANBU-san?" Tenten said.

"Just call me Neko and to explain further, Neji attempted to kill, let alone severely harm one of his friends. Naruto cherishes his friends greatly, mostly because he grew up alone from the start as an orphan. When angered, he becomes very sadistic….pretty much, your teammate is going to face the reality of his death."

The two combatants glared at each other for a moment and Naruto relaxed a bit, holding up two fingers, "You have two tries left…Neji Hyuga."

"You know, for someone named the Heartless Angel, you seem to talk more than fight."

"Hmph, fine….no more talking then."

"Do you still think about it? Do you remember the cry she gasped out when I struck her heart?"

Neko whispered, "Oh shit…that was the wrong thing to say, kid." Suddenly a huge killing intent washed over Neji and he gasped as he saw a silhouette of a silver-haired man with a nodachi in his hand. "You know what? Fuck it…" Naruto took out Ascalon and Sidewinder to fling them in the air and sent out a Blade Beam at Neji.

"Kaiten!"

The wave crashed against the dome and when the smoke cleared, Naruto held out the First Tsurugi in his right hand and summoned Masamune in his left. Naruto sped towards Neji and he tried to perform Kaiten once again.

"That is enough." Naruto said with a smirk as he stabbed Masamune in Neji's shoulder. The Hyuga gasped out in pain and the Jinchuuriki replied, "Get ready to receive your present!" Naruto flung the arrogant Hyuga in the air and began to stab him in various non-vital places.

Neji screamed in pain as he felt the sword pierce his body. "Now for the bone crushing…Omnislash Version 7!" Naruto swung his sword around, covering it in a golden light and flung it, releasing all of his swords…he also still had Masamune in his hand.

He floated around, grabbing the swords as he dug into Neji's body and twenty-six strikes later, Neji fell to the ground, his clothes soaked with his own blood. Naruto landed on the ground, surrounded by the swords and caught Vigilante in his right hand as he said, "You are lucky that I spared your life…next time, you will not be lucky."

Neji winced in pain as he struggled to get away, but Naruto stabbed Neji's leg, causing him to cry out in pain. "Naruto…that's…"

"Don't worry, I am not going to kill him…the reason that I spared him was because Hinata would not want to have bloodshed on her hands." The Jinchuuriki took Neji's headband off to reveal the Caged Bird Seal, "I already know about this seal, Neji. To be punished over different beliefs is cruel of the Hyuga clan to do to this to their own family…you do realize that if Hinata was cruel enough, she would have used this against you for you to submit, right? Why is that? Is it because she is weak? No, it is because she is incapable of hurting her own family, which is why she pulls her strikes against Hanabi."

Hanabi's eyes widened a bit as Naruto continued, "All she wanted from you was respect, but you took it and crushed it like it was trash, ridiculing her with your ideals of fate and…as for your father, he was a brave man to die for his village and his family."

"My father was murdered!"

"No, your father had a choice…to protect his family especially you and his brother or refuse and Kumo have the Byakugan while the high probability of war occurs…your father had been given a power that many people have, the power to choose for once in his life. For once…no one could dictate what he could or couldn't do. To be honest, your father was much like the Yondaime in his decision to fight the Kyuubi, so stop lamenting in sorrow as well as your stupid nonsense with fate because…even a caged bird eventually becomes free."

Naruto pulled out Masamune from Neji's leg and stated, "Cura…" The Hyuga instantly healed up from his major injuries and got up as Genma said, "Winner: Naruto Uzumaki." The swordsman left calmly to go to the stands and Genma shouted, "Will Sabaku no Gaara and Sasuke Uchiha please come down to the arena?"

Sarutobi looked at his bodyguard, "Raido, where is Uchiha Sasuke?"

"That is just it, we still have no word of Uchiha Sasuke or Hatake Kakashi."

The Hokage tipped his hat, "Just what is Kakashi doing?" Soon the crowd began to become restless and Sarutobi muttered, "It looks like I have no choice but to disqualify Sasuke Uchiha."

"Hokage-dono, if I may speak…please allow Sasuke Uchiha more time."

"This is odd of you, Kazekage-dono…"

A lot of people came here to see the fight as well as the Heartless Angel's, including myself personally. The son of the Kazekage against the last heir of the Uchiha clan should be an exhilarating fight." The Hokage paused for a moment in thought and replied, "Alright…we will push the mtach back then."

Suddenly Raido dispersed into the area while a russet red haired woman in a blue dress attire accompanied by a young man with a sharpened tooth shown outside the right corner of his mouth and an older man with a eye patch along with seal tags for earrings.

"Hello, Mizukage-dono, welcome to Konoha….I was not aware that you were coming."

The woman smiled, "I prefer to be to make surprise entrances…I am most intrigued that one of your rookie Genin was able to kill Zabuza Momochi, I heard that he would be competing in the finals from my own Genin that were unable to pass the second phase, so I decided to see him in action myself and possibly ask for the whereabouts of his Kubikiribocho."

"And your name is…" The Kazekage said and the woman said, "Oh, forgive me, my name is Mei Terumi, the boy besides me is Chojuro, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and the man on my left is Ao."

Hiruzen replied, "Alright, Mei-dono, please have a seat…" Mei sat down beside the Kazekage, who thought, "This could pose a problem, I hardly know anything about this Mei Terumi. I will have to wait for a while to alter the pain."

Genma said, "Due to one of the participants not being here, this match is postponed. Will Kankuro and Aburame Shino please come down?" Kankuro thought, "Shit! I can't reveal Karasu's hidden secrets and this match is utterly trivial."

Then the boy replied, "I forfeit!" Genma released a 'tch' sound from this mouth before he replied, "Winner by forfeit: Shino Aburame."

"Looks like he is possibly part of Orochimaru's plan, maybe the whole village is involved. He would not be the type to not crush his opponent." Naruto thought. "Will Shikamaru Nara and Temari please come down?" Genma shouted.

Temari's response was to take out her fan and float down using the current while Shikamaru's response was to fall over the railing courtesy of Naruto's foot. "Sorry, Shikamaru, but I need more time to figure this out…your fight should be able to give me since you are so lazy."

"Note to self: when Naruto eat with us again, make him pay the bill." Shikamaru thought and Temari said, "Oi, pineapple head, get off your lazy ass and fight."

"How the hell do I always get paired against girls…especially girls with impatience and anger issues." Shikamaru said. Temari ran at him, "If you won't come, then I will!"

Genma said, "Hey, the match hasn't started!"

Temari didn't hear him and crashed the iron fan on Shikamaru, but the lazy boy quickly took out two kunai and embedded into the wall behind him.

"You know…" she looked up to see Shikamaru standing on top of the kunai with his hands in his pockets, "I hate to fight and I don't care about being Chunin, but I can't stand losing to a woman. So I'll guess I will take you on." He said with a grin.

Temari smirked as she opened her fan and blew a wind strike at him. Smoke billowed and Temari looked in the corner of her eye, "Well, he's great at running." Temari thought, _"Okay, he is a ninja that uses shadows and probably trying to lure me into the trees….Iike I will fall for that."_

Shikamaru lazily thought, "_Oh man, those clouds are lucky…so free. I really don't feel like doing this. I just became a ninja so I wouldn't be bothering….but I suppose…that things are not that simple."_

Temari thought, _"What the hell? Is he mocking me with that smile of his?"_

She shouted, swinging her fan, "**Ninpou: Kamaitachi no Jutsu!"** The wind blew harshly in the arena. Tenten thought, _"That move was the one that knocked Kiba out cold. Shikamaru has his hands full."_

Suddenly a shadow line appeared, rushing toward Temari, who moved quickly backwards until the shadow started to shrink. "Heh, there is a limit to how much you can shrink, stretch or change your shadow, isn't there. You can't stretch it any further than your normal shadow's surface area no matter how you change it."

Shikamaru chuckled, "That's right."

Temari then closed her fan and measured the distance, _"15 meters and 32 centimeters. He can use other shadows, but he can't control them, so he is using the shaded area to increase his length. But unfortunately no matter if he goes to the edge, the length will be the same."_

Kankuro said, "Temari is better at long-range fighting, this match is over."

Shikamaru crouched and form his thinking pose.

Asuma said, "Even thought his grades were as bad as Naruto, he often said that he was too lazy to pick up his pencil to write, but he loves to play shogi a lot. Whenever he gets in a tight spot, he assumes that pose…..his sensei Asuma gave him an IQ test in shogi form and found out that his IQ…is over 200, he is a freaking genius."

Temari commented, "So it looks like you are finally getting serious now. **Ninpou: Kamaitachi**!" Shikamaru moved to cover in the trees and took off his shirt. "It is no use trying to hide! Stop running or give up!"

Suddenly two kunai were thrown, Temari dodged only to get in the path of another. She blocked it with her fan and a series of explosions were sounded in front and behind her. _"He attached explosive tags!"_ she thought, "_He is trying to distract me!"_

Then Shikamaru's shadow sprang in action. Temari thought, _"Nice try, but your shadow can't pass this line….wait, hold on….aw, shit!"_The shadow, sure enough, passes over the line, making the wind user sprang backwards yet again.

"I see…." She stated, "You used those kunai as distractions to keep me occupied while the sun moves, giving me more leverage. This should be your limit now."

Shikamaru said nothing, staring at her and Kankuro shouted, "Temari, above you!"

She looked up to see a makeshift parachute made out of Shikamaru's shirt and a kunai attached to the bottom of it.

"Sonova…." Temari cursed as she dodged the growing shadow.

"You will not escape!" Shikamaru declared.

Temari moved as she thought_, "Impressive….using the kunai to distract me from his shadow and then using his shadow to distract me from looking up and noticing the parachute…..but it's clear to me now."_

The shadow stopped and receded back a bit, so Temari stopped and flipped open her fan and placed it in front of her, _"I need to finish this quickly, his shadow will move farther as the sun moves, so I will use Bunshin no Jutsu, which will draw his attention to it. Then I will jump out and use all my chakra into the strongest possible Kamaitachi to rip him apart. Now where is his shadow…good, it's nowhere near me."_ Temari thought, _"Initiating attack...Bunshin no…"_

Suddenly she froze and thought, _"W-What? I-I'm frozen?"_

Shikamaru sprang his hands apart, "Finally Kagemane no Jutsu success."

Temari said, "B-But your shadow was nowhere near me…how did you get me?"

Shikamaru said, "I let you look behind you."

He turned his head and Temari under his jutsu's spell did the same. Temari's eyes widened as she saw a hole behind her and sure enough, his shadow connecting to hers. "When you used the Kamaitachi Jutsu, you loosed some of the gravel in where Neji was at… thus I used those kunai wrapped with a explosive tag with a little extra kick, making a hole in front and the back of you. The two made a tunnel and then I Iured you over to this spot with all of those distractions and failed successions like my little puppet."

Temari gritted her teeth while Shikamaru said, "Checkmate!"

Naruto said, "Wait for it!"

Ino shouted, "Go!"

Choji munched ferociously as Shikamaru and Temari walked towards each other, then they both raised their hands as the shadow wielder said, "That's it….I quit."

Ino said, "Huh?"

Shikamaru said, "Those failed successions used up my chakra. I had thought up over 200 moves and I'm getting tired of this, one match is enough for me. Plus I can only hold you for about five more minutes."

Genma shouted, "Winner: Sabaku no Temari!"

Shikamaru's shadow moved back to him and Temari looked at him. Suddenly there was a swirl of leaves in the arena and soon they revealed to be Kakashi Hatake and Sasuke Uchiha back to back, with the Genin wearing new attire.

"Maa, maa, are we late?" Kakashi asked.

Genma said, "You are lucky, Hokage-sama was lenient enough to move your match back." Sasuke looked up to stare at Gaara for a moment and said, "Gaara…" Naruto said as he joined him, "He will be a challenge, Sasuke. Make sure that you stay focused."

Sasuke smirked, "Never thought you cared, Naruto…but just don't lose to anyone yet, I want to test myself against a master of the sword. "

"Right, see you in the final match…"

Naruto disappeared to appear in the stands just as Gaara came down from the stairs and Genma said, "Now Sasuke Uchiha versus Gaara…hajime!" Gaara's gourd immediately began to spew out sand. Sasuke jumped back a bit and thought, _"So this is the sand that Kakashi mentioned."_ Suddenly Gaara clutched his head and said, "Don't…get so angry…Mother."

Sasuke thought, _"What the hell is he talking about?"_

Gaara continued his demonic monologue, "I know I fed you some bad blood, but I promise that this time….it will be delicious."

Sakura asked, "Sensei? That mark on Sasuke's neck….is it…"

Kakashi said, "Don't worry."

Sakura smiled at Kakashi and turned to watch the match. Gaara said, "Come!"

Sasuke said, "Fine, you ask for it."

He quickly drew two shuriken and threw them at Gaara. The Suna Jinchuuriki's absolute defense caught the shuriken while making a Suna Bunshin. Sasuke took the time to charge at Gaara, but the Suna Bunshin's torso suddenly surged forward to meet the Uchiha.

Sasuke jumped forward in the air and the Suna Bunshin flicked his own shuriken at him. The Uchiha was forced to return the shuriken and kicked at the Suna Bunshin's crossed arms. The arms blasted off as Sasuke slammed his palms on the ground to right himself on his feet and slammed his wrist into the Suna Bunshin's neck.

The clone was in shock, but it started to smirk as the sand seeped over the Uchiha's wrist. The Uchiha quickly dealt a palm strike to blast the Suna Bunshin's head into dust. He rushed through to get to Gaara, but another wall erected to block Sasuke's assault, but Sasuke smirked and Lee's eyes widened in surprise.

Gaara's eyes did the same as Sasuke suddenly appeared behind him, _"Fast….just like…him."_Sasuke drew his fist back and slugged Gaara in the face, cracking his Suna Yoroi and sending the psychotic boy into the ground.

Gai was shocked as he thought, "_He is just as fast as Lee's starting speed and his taijutsu…"_ Lee finished, _"Is the same as mine."_

Naruto thought, _"So sensei had to use Lee's speed to get past Gaara, no doubt he had to use the Sharingan to visualize Lee's speed."_

Sasuke moved into the Goken stance as he said, "So that is your armor, eh? Come on….I will rip it off." He sped through Gaara, but the sand tried to stop him from the front, but Sasuke veered behind him and twisted through the sand to kick Gaara away.

Sasuke taunted, "What's wrong….is that it?"

Sasuke moved in a circle around Gaara and moved inside Gaara's guard to send a kick to Gaara's chin, and then he grabbed his shirt and brought him toward his persona to give him a knee to the chest. _"Sasuke, you are a genius beyond imagination, it took me years to reach that speed, but just in only a month, you were able to reach it."_

Lee thought as he looked at Sasuke, who was panting with exertion. _"But to keep up at that kind of movement requires a lot of strength."_

Kankuro thought, _"What are you going to do, Gaara? The Suna no Yoroi uses a lot of chakra, you know you can't use for long."_

Gai asked, "_What kind of training did you put him through?"_

Kakashi answered, _"Sasuke had Lee's taijutsu before, so that is why I had train him in Lee's taijutsu as well. Since he knew Lee and seen his taijutsu in action, he was able to master the style. It was hard work."_

Lee thought, "But just with my taijutsu, it is not enough."

Gai thought, _"Kakashi, what are you up to? You saw the battle between Lee and Gaara, so you should know that taijutsu will not be enough to defeat him….so why did you have Sasuke focus on taijutsu?"_

Gaara immediately had his sand encircle him, but the Uchiha ran forward to stop Gaara. Sasuke threw a punch at the sand, only for his fist to suffer by bleeding as the sand globe grew spikes to halt Sasuke's assault. The Uchiha had a cut on his cheek and a gash on his right leg.

He fell back as he felt warm blood running down his leg, _"Using all of that sand to protect himself…..that it gets so hard when it packed like that, so this is an absolute defense."_ Soon a third eye appeared, hovering over the side of the sand globe while Gaara sat down and concentrated, chanting a mantra.

Temari thought, _"Gaara plans to use that jutsu….this is bad."_

Sasuke had a shocked look on his face, but then he smirked as he wiped the blood off of his cheek. The Uchiha moved forward and aimed a kick at the shell, it bounced off. _"As I thought, it is no good trying to use taijutsu against it…since I can't see what he is up to, since he is hiding in there, it is a perfect opportunity to test out my new jutsu…since it takes a lot of time too."_

Sasuke unclipped a button on the black spiral thing on his arm; he jumped up on the balcony and used chakra to stick to the wall. He crouched and Gai's eyes widened, "So that is why you did that…"

Sakura said, "Huh?"

Kakashi said, "I had Sasuke focus on taijutsu and speed since the ninjutsu that he is about to use requires a lot of speed."

Gai said, "You didn't…."

Kakashi said, "I did."

The Haruno asked, "What jutsu is that?" Ino covered her ears and said, "I have no idea, but it is loud much like screeching birds." Gai replied, "It is Kakashi's original jutsu, the Raikiri….he used it on me once, but this kid was able to block with that arm of his."

Naruto thought, _"I just hope he changes out of that attitude….or I seriously have to kick his ass."_ Sasuke charged downwards towards Gaara's little sand globe.

"_It is incredible…you can see the chakra in his hand."_ Ino thought.

Meanwhile inside the sand globe, Gaara was talking to himself once again, "Yes…I am going to rip off his head…..then crack it open, so the brain can spill out….huh, the head….then tons of blood will flow out….you can have it all, Mother. Kyahahaha….aren't I such a good boy, Mother….I am always a good boy….Yeah, let's do it, Mother….I will be watching."

Gai muttered, "A simple stab."

Haku said, "What?"

Gai explained, "It's a technique created solely for assassination, the speed of the stab and the large amount of chakra concentrated to create the heightened flesh combined makes the sound of chirping birds."

Sakura said, "So if it is not called the Raikiri, then what is it?"

Gai said, "The jutsu is called….Chidori." At the moment the word escaped Gai's lips, Sasuke had burst through Gaara's defense.

Kankuro said, "No way…Gaara's defense has been breached?"

Temari said, "That is impossible."

Gai said, "Since the speed of the user and the amount of concentrated chakra focused in one arm, then it becomes like a sword. If any other user were able to use this, they would have experienced tunnel vision….but the Sharingan helps this matter which is why only Sasuke is able to use this jutsu to its full potential."

Lee thought, _"I see, I wouldn't be able to run at that speed straight at my opponent….because it is easier to make a counterattack and I don't possess the Sharingan to see the counter. I'm jealous of you, Sasuke…my sense of superiority came when I defeated you since your body couldn't keep up with my speed…but now you have that speed including the Sharingan."_

Sasuke said, "I got you now, Sabaku no Gaara."

Inside the globe, Gaara asked, "What….is this warm stuff? Mother….what did…ah…UWAAAAAA…..IT'S MY BLOOD! MY BLOOD!"

Suddenly Ishide and the Jonin felt a cold shiver run up their spine and immediately knew that Gaara had changed a bit for the worse. Sasuke felt something crushing his arm and had to use the Chidori to free himself, Gaara screamed again as Sasuke pulled his arm back to have a strange looking arm with blue veins running across it.

Kankuro became fearful as he thought, _"There is no mistake….it's 'his' arm."_

Gai asked, "What is that?"

Kankuro whispered, "Did he attain his complete form?"

Temari whispered back, "I don't know…it looks like Uchiha wounded him, this has never happen before." Sasuke peered inside the hole and gasped as he saw an eye glaring at him….it was amber with an inverted four-pointed star with four dots in a square-like fashion.

"_I am getting chills just from the memories from the first time I saw it….I couldn't eat for weeks after seeing that…that thing."_ Kankuro thought in fear.

Genma's body started to quiver, _"What's….this feeling?"_ Suddenly the sphere started to crack and revealed Gaara clutching his right shoulder. _"I knew it….the cocoon was broken before he could transform fully."_Temari thought.

Naruto thought, "_She must mean to transform into Shukaku."_

Sasuke thought, _"No, it wasn't those eyes…what was that…thing that was looking at me earlier? Whatever it is…I better finish this." _The Uchiha took out the Kusanagi and shouted, "Chidori Blade!" He sent his lightning chakra in the blade and stabbed Gaara in the wounded shoulder, then kicked him away.

Gaara was paralyzed due to the lightning chakra and fell to the ground, twitching. "Winner: Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke moved away from the twitching Gaara, who was taken by the Konoha medics, followed by Jiraiya.

"That was an interesting match, the Uchiha showed some impressive skill. Gaara as well, but he seems a bit unstable."

"He is a bit, I deduced that Gaara was reminded of some tragic things in his early life through Sasuke Uchiha. " Orochimaru said in his Kazekage persona, but his thoughts were different, "I was lucky that I didn't give the signal yet…it would be quite difficult to deal with two Kages at once, especially one I don't know."

Genma continued, "Now the next match will be Naruto Uzumaki and Shino Aburame, will both contestants please come down?" Both of them came down to the arena and faced each other as the proctor replied, "Begin!"

Shino's bugs came out from his body and Naruto moved into his fighting stance. The Aburame mentally ordered his bugs to attack him and the Jinchuuriki's blue-green eyes shifted to red as an orange chakra covered his body.

The bugs attacked Naruto, who just stood there and let them, only the bugs were incinerated on contact with the chakra. "What?" Shino said, "What is that chakra and why do my bugs don't want to go near him." Naruto replied, "It is a certain chakra I have inside me, it is highly corrosive to everything except me."

Shino said, "I see…then I am forfeiting this match, even if I managed to win, I believe that I will not be able to beat neither Sasuke-san with his Katon or Temari with her Futon." Genma smirked as he thought, "Smart kid, Uzumaki does have an ability to fire attacks as well as Sasuke while Temari would just blow and shred his kikaichu…but I never knew that Uzumaki was able to control and harness the Kyuubi's chakra that stable. Definitely chunin material along with Shikamaru and Shino."

"Winner by forfeit: Naruto Uzumaki. Now will Sasuke Uchiha and Temari please come down?"

Both of them came down and Sasuke thought to himself, "I have a feeling that she won't let me use my Fire jutsu since her Futon will augment it and she is better at long range, making it hard to approach her directly. It looks like that I am going to have to use genjutsu….I hate using genjutsu, reminds me too much of Itachi."

"Begin!"

Temari swung her fan, "Ninpou: Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" The Uchiha rolled away while activating his Sharingan and he had to dodge yet again. He fired off a kunai at her and Temari used her fan to block it. "Now is my chance! Katon: Goukakyuu!"

The Fireball was launched from his mouth toward Temari, who jumped away only for Sasuke to appear behind her to strike her down, but she got up and received a kick from Sasuke, causing her to skid away. "Futon: Kirikiri no Mai!"

She swung her fan in a wide arc, sending the Uchiha off his feet. He unsealed the Kusanagi quickly to stab it into the ground to keep himself level. "Tch, you are pretty good…" Sasuke called out. Temari shot back, "You aren't bad yourself."

Then she thought, "His Katon makes it difficult to use my jutsu, plus he got a sword that secrets poison and can extend. On top of that, we are needed in the operation and I can't deal with Konoha ninja at half strength."

Sasuke replied, "Give up, you can't win this fight. Your jutsu augments mine, I have more speed than you and I could kill you with this sword."

"You are right, Uchiha…but those factors are not going to make me forfeit."

Sasuke said, "I see…then I should tell you something."

"What is that?"

Sasuke smiled, "This is not the real me?" He disappeared on the wind and Temari turned behind her only to receive a punch to the solar plexus, making her go unconscious. "Winner: Sasuke Uchiha." The medics took Temari away and Kankuro followed them naturally while Genma said, "Now the final match…Naruto Uzumaki versus Sasuke Uchiha."

The crowd roared in excitement, most of the shouts were in favor of Sasuke. "Don't hold back, Naruto…I want to see your true strength. "

"You got it, Sasuke…oh, you may want to activate your Sharingan now." Naruto said as he brought out Masamune and got into his stance. Sasuke acted wisely and got his guard up as Naruto, "Let's see if Kakashi's training has brought you up to…."

The Jinchuuriki glided swiftly towards the Uchiha in a great clash. Sasuke gritted his teeth at the strength of the hit and Naruto said, "Kakashi gave you weight training for your speed…good, but how is your footwork?"

Naruto backed off and dueled Sasuke like a fencer, but the Uchiha blocked and parried the blows as he shifted to a new position. "Good…you are at least mid chunin, a surprising growth from you, must be in your blood."

"Thanks…now let's skip the formalities." Sasuke said, he launched Kusanagi at him and Naruto dodged the long blade to run at Sasuke, but the Uchiha was able to retract the length of the Kusanagi to its original form to block Naruto's one-handed slash.

Both of them smirked at each other as they battled each other fiercely, Sasuke was able to pick up the moves of Naruto due to his Sharingan and due to the copying of recreating Lee's speed, his body was able to keep up, but slowly the Uchiha was whining down in exhaustion.

"If only I could scratch him just once, I could win this match…but he is superior in a kenjutsu battle, so I am at a disadvantage." The Uchiha thought to himself as he was hard pressed and Orochimaru thought, "Damn that Namikaze, this little farce has gone long enough."

The Snake Sannin made a discreet hand sign and Kabuto, disguised as an ANBU member, made a hand sign, "Ninpo: Nehan Shoja no Jutsu!" Soon everyone in the stands saw feathers falling from the sky and the civilians along with some of the genin fell asleep.

"It begins…"

"What begins?" Sasuke asked.

"Orochimaru's invasion…he has Suna helping him to destroy Konoha and retrieve you." Genma jumped down beside them, "Alright, you two, I need you to help…"

"Got it." Both of them said. Naruto gripped the hilt of his sword and went into the arena to bifurcate three Oto ninja and strode to the four barrier wall to have ANBU along with Oto ninja block his path. "Move…I have business with your leader."

"I am sure that you could consult your business with us, Naruto-kun." The ANBU said as he signaled his men on the sides. "Stopga…" In under six seconds, he dispatched the Oto ninja and stated again, "My business is not with you, Kabuto…but it seems that I will have to deal with you first."

Kabuto chuckled as he took off the borrowed mask, "So you knew….pray tell why is it you ask of Orochimaru-sama?"

"His head on a platter for a death of a ninja that he ordered to kill."

"You mean Hayate-san?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed, "It was you, wasn't it?" Kabuto didn't have a chance to respond as Naruto came at him, his eyes were crimson red. "You are going to die first, then your partner in crime and lastly, your so-called master." Naruto declared in sheer rage.

Kabuto was surprised at the power within Naruto and saw his black wing explode from his back. Naruto grabbed the Jonin-level Genin by the face and threw him literally toward the building where the barrier was at.

Flashback- 5 Minutes Ago- Sarutobi looked at the Kazekage, who took out a smoke bomb to obscure their vision. Mei's bodyguards sprang into action , protecting their Mizukage while Sarutobi jumped in the air, facing the revealed Orochimaru.

"Orochimaru…here?" Ao barked, "It looks like an invasion." Chojuro turned to Mei, "What do we do, Mizukage-sama?" The russet-red haired woman closed her eyes for a moment and opened them as she said, "We helped them and this would only fortify our claim from an alliance with Konoha."

The three Kiri ninjas jumped up on the roof only to see four Oto ninjas on each corner of the roof and shouted in unison, "Ninpo: Shishirenjin!" A purple, rectangular barrier was erected and one of the ANBU caught on fire as he slammed into it.

"Damn it…that barrier is awfully strong." Ao thought, "We won't be able to help the Hokage out." Suddenly the six of them moved to avoid a human bullet that crashed into the edge of the roof, they looked up to see Naruto in an angelic glory with his black wing out and crimson red eyes to match.

"If someone is going to die today…it might as well be you, Kabuto." Naruto said coldly. Kabuto got up and said, "Chakura Mesu…" The spectacled-wearing boy launched at him, but Naruto disappeared in a flash of darkish blue light. Kabuto looked around and gasped as he felt a slash on his midsection.

Naruto appeared in front of Kabuto and dismissed Masamune to stretch his gloves a bit to enter Tifa's stance. "You should have kept your sword with you, Naruto-kun. I should let you know that I was holding back during the exams, I am actually on par with your sensei, Kakashi Hatake." Kabuto stated as he ran toward the Jinchuuriki.

The Mako-enriched boy ducked under one swipe and caught Kabuto's other one by the wrist, "I know, but with my sword, I could instantly kill you, but I don't want that…instead for killing Hayate, I am going to use my hands to beat you in the ground and make you suffer, plus I do need the practice and you are the perfect dummy."

Naruto sent a knee into Kabuto's gut and then sent an uppercut elbow to Kabuto's face, knocking his glasses off. AS Naruto came towards him slowly, he stepped on the glasses of Hayate's murderer and Kabuto got up until Naruto kicked him in the chest, then back handed him across the face and lastly performed a Beat Rush combo on Kabuto's traitorous ass.

"Come on; get up…so I can show the true present of despair."

Kabuto smiled and Naruto's eyes slightly widened as he watched the right hand man's wounds were healed in an instinct. "You didn't think that it was going to be that easy, did you?"

"So after I plunge you in despair, I will be taking your head, plain and simple." Naruto said with a frown on his face.

Sasuke- The Uchiha went off to find Kakashi, who was protecting Sakura at the moment. He made his way over to them and found someone trying to kill Kakashi on his blind side as he was focused on one another.

Sasuke gripped the Kusanagi and stabbed the opposing ninja in the back, piercing his kidney. "Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried out, "Where is Naruto?"

"On the roof, he is fighting against Kabuto…and you really don't want to go there right now, I have never seen Naruto that pissed before and I don't want to know how sadistic he can be."

"Kabuto is a traitor? No way…but why is Naruto pissed?"

Kakashi said, "A few nights after the Prelims were finished, the proctor, Hayate was killed. When the autopsy was done, it was said that his cause of death was that his heart was severed, but there was a second strike as well with a wind jutsu. Kabuto was probably the one did the first strike and a Suna ninja was the one who made the second."

Sasuke said, "So a Suna ninja helped…I hope for his or her sake, Naruto doesn't find him or her because he or she will be in a world of hurt after he is through." Meanwhile, Kabuto, despite his healing trick, was getting the shit kicked out of him, every move he made against Naruto, he would dodge it completely.

Hell, the bastard was mocking him by fighting with no hands and it was infuriating to Kabuto so much that his old blood was leaking out. "Why don't you die?"

"Because I refuse to, you chose the wrong person to fuck with. Unlike you, I care about my friends and when you hurt one, you get to deal with me." His black wing unfurled from his back and Masamune appeared in his hand again.

"Now you will die, Kabuto Yakushi….you are charged with treason, espionage and the murder of Gekko Hayate. As your judge, jury and executioner, I sentence you to death." Kabuto tried to jump away, but Naruto came up to stab him in the heart and cut off his head.

"Fira…"

Kabuto's body was engulfed in flames and next, he glanced over to the three-headed snake and took out an orb to embed it into his arm. It began to glow and the Jinchuuriki raised his hand to the sky with a circular symbol.

Suddenly the sky darkened and a huge roar was heard, causing everyone to turn their heard as a dragon appeared in the sky…his name was Bahamut, the king of dragons. "Who summons me?"

"I summon you, mighty Bahamut, I humbly request for you to aid in this battle against that snake."

"What is your name?"

"Naruto Namikaze."

"Very well, I shall aid you in your request…feel free to summon me again."

Naruto jumped on Bahamut's shoulder and the dragon king took flight to crash into the three- headed snake. The snake's heads hissed in anger at their new opponent. One of the heads struck at Bahamut, but the dragon swiped its claws to bat the strike away.

Next, the middle and right one came at him while he was preoccupied. "Thunder." A bolt struck the right head and Bahamut took the middle one to rip it off with its mouth. "Multiflare!" Bahamut declared as he spat out small blue fireballs, which slammed into the new two-headed snake.

"Blade Beam!" Naruto shouted as he replaced Masamune with Vigilante to let loose a blue crescent beam at the dazed two-headed snake. The snakes hissed in pain as the blast hit them dead center and Naruto jumped up into the air as he shouted, "Braver!"

He came down in an arc and the snakes froze for a second, then fell into two separate pieces before disappearing in a plume of smoke. "Well, not bad, Naruto…it will be good to work with you again, however, to gain the other summons to aid you…you must fight to gain respect in their eyes. Farewell!" Bahamut said as he disappeared in a flash and the materia in Naruto's arm dimmed back.

"The enemy is retreating!" a random Konoha ninja shouted as they cheered. Naruto hefted Vigliante over his shoulder as he thought, "Hayate, I have avenged your death and I promise that I will keep your lover safe from harm."

He walked away from the destruction with his white wing appearing as well with his black wing.


	11. A New Player Enters the Arena

**Chapter 11- A New Player Enters the Arena**

Naruto looked over the village on the top of the First Hokage's head and noticed all of the destroyed places as well as the ninjas along with the civilians working together to help out to rebuild the village. Compared to the Kyuubi attack on the day of his birth, it was very minimal.

He sat down with one foot dangling over the face of Hashirama Senju and thought to himself, _"I wonder what is going to happen next…"_ Cloud replied, **"What are you talking about, Naruto?" **The Jinchuuriki sighed, _"Well, when it comes to these kinds of situations, the silence doesn't last very long."_

Suddenly a meteor slammed down right behind him into the forest behind the Hokage Monument and Naruto muttered, "See what I mean?" He leaped off of Hashirama's head and went into the forest to find the source of the disturbance, following the path of the broken trees and uprooted dirt.

"What is that?"

Soon the smoke has a silhouette of a person and Naruto summoned First Tsurugi out in battle mode in his usual stance, the person walked out of the crater to reveal a black-haired woman with a red ribbon tied to her arm. She wore black leather gloves and a white shirt under a black zip-up vest with black shorts that fold at the waist, forming an additional utility pocket at the front and a short duster at the back extending to her heels.

"**Tifa?"** Cloud said with a gasp, **"What is she doing here? How did she get here?"**

Sephiroth coolly said, **"Looks like your friends are still looking for you…you truly have some great friends, Cloud."** The former SOLDIER nodded in silence and Naruto relaxed, hearing the conversation within his head and Tifa walked out of the hole, looked up at Naruto and shouted out, "Cloud!"

"Um…Tifa-san, I am not your friend, Cloud Strife…I am Naruto Uzumaki, welcome to my worl…"

Tifa interrupted him by aiming a punch at Naruto's head, "What did you do to him? Where is Cloud?!" Naruto dodged and flipped backwards, skidding backwards into a tree, "If you would let me explain just for a minute then I can…."

Tifa suddenly appeared in the air and came down with an ax kick to the head; the Jinchuuriki put his arms up to block the hit, sending him down to one knee and causing a crater to appear. Naruto gritted his teeth in pain as he felt some of the bones in his arm were slightly fractured.

"_Damn, she is strong…"_

"**Looks like she hasn't lost her touch at all, Cloud…"** Sephiroth commented**, "Good thing you taught him her fighting style or else he would be hard pressed against her." **The brooding blond swordsman nodded silently as he watched Naruto fighting Tifa in pay per view.

Naruto tilted his head to the side as Tifa's fist embedded itself into the bark and he moved over to the side, "This would be easier for us to talk than fight." Tifa replied, "Sorry…I am not much in a talking mood right now!"

"**Beat Rush!"**

Naruto's eyes widened as she charged straight towards the boy, who blocked every hit that she sent at him. Tifa was fairly surprised, "H-How….how do you know my moves?" Naruto sighed as he moved into her guard, **"Meteor Strike."**

The Jinchuuriki swept her off her feet and grabbed her leg, then spun her around, using the trees as a barrier for her to do increased damage and threw her up in the air, only to grab her shirt and send her back down into the earth.

"Are we done?"

Tifa stared at Naruto in shock, "How did you know that style?"

"Your friend, Cloud…he was my teacher as well as an acquaintance of yours."

"Acquaintance?"

Wordlessly, the boy summoned Masamune and Tifa glared at the sword, "Sephiroth…" Naruto nodded as he responded, "That is correct, on the day of my birth…at the same time Cloud and Sephiroth clashed, they caused a time warp that flung them into this dimension. Unfortunately, at that time, our current leader of my village, the Yondaime was forced to seal a demon inside of me...and Cloud and Sephiroth were sealed as well."

The brunette looked at the Jinchuuriki sadly, "Can you unseal them?"

"Sadly, I cannot…if I unseal them, I would die and I kinda like to breathe oxygen."

"I am sorry for you to travel so far to learn this, but since it is possible for you to come to this dimension…perhaps there is something on your side that could help me get Cloud, Sephiroth and my other tenant out of my body with their own bodies."

Tifa scratched her head, "Well, actually…I just sort of ushered on through the portal, so I have no idea how to contact my world or anything." The swordsman pinched his nose bridge and sighed, "Then I guess you are stuck with me until I figure out a way to contact them. Come along now…"

Suddenly the two were surrounded by some mysterious ANBU members, who Naruto had noticed that they had tipless tantos instead of katanas like they normally would. Tifa asked as she glanced at Naruto from her peripherals, "Friends of yours?"

"No, I have never seen these guys before…usually these guys have katana swords instead of tantos, meaning that these guys follow someone else's orders." Naruto stated calmly, "Am I correct, fellas?" The ANBU did say anything, but one of them spoke, "Stand down, Uzumaki-san…that woman needs to come with us for questioning." The Uzumaki responded, "Then perhaps you should try a different approach, I know you don't work for the Hokage at all, so the answer to that request will be no."

"Attack!"

Naruto smirked and summoned Masamune, "Let's dance…" Tifa nodded and the two sprang apart to charge at one faction of the mysterious ANBU group. He glided towards his group, his face cold and emotionless, **"Octaslash."**

The trained SOLDIER appeared behind the group and either the ANBU's heads rolled from their shoulders or fell to the floor on their knees with a large gash on their chests. Two ANBU came towards Naruto, who dodged their slashes and kicked them away, only to hear a Goukakyuu coming towards him.

"Hmph, useless…" He said as he sent a beam of energy cutting through it.

"Enough!" A voice shouted.

Naruto and Tifa turned to see the Hokage and several ninjas coming towards them and the ANBU group leader said, "You have won this one, Uzumaki…but we will be back…the roots are the ones that sustain the tree of life." With that, they disappeared into the shadows just as the Hokage approached them.

"Naruto…what happened here?"

"A misunderstanding…this woman here mistaken me for someone else and then we were attacked by some weird ANBU faction, they were different…they had no emotions and their weapons of choice were tantos instead of katanas like I usually see."

The Hokage growled, "ROOT…"

"So that is what he meant, the roots sustain the life of the tree…ROOT is functioning to sustain Konoha."

Hiruzen stared at Naruto seriously, "Naruto…I need you to listen carefully, if ROOT contacts or tries to attack you, I need you to notify me in some way or run…they are highly trained and dangerous." The Jinchuuriki stated, "Not to sound rude, but I did give a beating to your former student, Orochimaru…I think I can handle myself, but I will acquiesce to your request, Hokage-ji-san."

"Thank you, now I need you to go on a mission with Jiraiya…at the invasion, I realized that I can't keep the mantle of Hokage now as I am too old and weak, I need a replacement and although Jiraiya would be a good candidate for the job, he is not a person that would like to tied down to a desk, so the better one would be my other student…"

"Tsunade Senju, the Slug Sennin…"

"Yes, correct, not only is she royalty and related to the Shodai Hokage, she is also very strong and capable of holding her own in politics…but it will take some convincing or force to bring her back to this place since it brings up some…unpleasant memories."

"You mean the fact that her brother Nawaki as well as her lover, Dan Kato were killed during the Second Shinobi World War."

"Yes…how do you know of all this?"

"Jiraiya told me stories about her and I found both of them next to each other in the graveyard, deducing that they were close and I went to the library to find out that Tsunade had a younger brother, who was Nawaki…I just guessed that Dan was a close friend or lover. Then I best get packing if we need to bring her back here."

The wizened Hokage nodded, "See to it that you bring her back successfully, Orochimaru will be on the move for her as well to recruit her to his side and he does have a knack for converting people to that side…much like you, Naruto."

"Right…Tifa, let's go."

Later, two figures were on the top of the wall, they were wearing straw hats with paper streamers on the side. Their cloaks had high collars and were black with red clouds on them. The tall one had strange blue skin and his face closely resembled a shark and the shorter one was silent with black hair, but you couldn't see his face.

"Well, it seem that it is still untouched…..are you feeling nostalgic?" The tall, shark-man said to his partner.

The shorter one said, "No…I don't feel nostalgic at all." He lifted his eyes up to see Konoha clearly…..his eyes held a fully matured Sharingan.

**With Orochimaru-** The Snake Sennin was livid with rage and anger, destroying everything in sight within the walls of one of his many hidden bases. "I can't believe this! My plan ruined by one brat! He made me lose Gaara and my summons, even Kabuto!"

"Well, it is nice to see that I am appreciated for my talents, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru whirled around to see Kabuto, alive with a smile on his face, "Kabuto, you're alive?! But how?"

"Shikon no Jutsu is very useful…Naruto-kun surprised me with his strength, I have underestimated his capabilities, but...now, I will make sure that I will come on top when we meet again…despite him disrupting our plans, we did manage to have Sasuke Uchiha afflicted with your Cursed Seal of Heaven. What is your next move?"

Orochimaru replied with a small smirk, "Simple, we need a strong person on our side to help take care of our Uzumaki problem and what better way to take care of an Uzumaki by recruiting a family member to our cause."

Confused, Kabuto asked, "A family member? The Uzumaki clan was destroyed years ago, the family members were scattered across the land…so who are we recruiting that you know is a family member, Lord Orochimaru?"

Orochimaru said, "My old teammate Tsunade…."

Back in Konoha, Naruto walked into his home with Tifa and began to pack his clothes. "This is a nice village, pretty big too…" The Jinchuuriki said, "Yes, it is a nice home to live in, but like every home there is always some kind of corruption in it. Well…you might as well come with me on the trip to find our new Hokage; you will need to lay low for a while."

Tifa nodded in agreement and went with Naruto, walking towards the gate and the swordsman took out First Tsurugi in attack mode, "We are not alone, Tifa…come on out, it is useless to hide when I can sense you two especially the sword that is practically filled with chakra now."

Tifa looked confused, but moved into her stance as she saw two figures, who were wearing black clouds with red clouds decorated on them. The taller of the two had blue hair and beady eyes as well as blue-tinted skin and hair. He also carried a large daito on his back and his headband indicated that he was a missing ninja from Kirigakure just like Zabuza.

The short one had black hair and blackened fingernails as well, his face was very familiar…one that Naruto instantly recognized. "Itachi Uchiha and…I believe you are Kisame Hoshigaki, correct?" Kisame grinned, "So the brat actually does know our names…"

"Well, who wouldn't…Itachi is the known murderer of the Uchiha clan in a single night, making him one of the most dangerous missing ninja from our village and you, Kisame, abandoned your village for more challenges. So…what are a couple of S-Class Missing Ninjas here in this village, following a Chunin-level ninja for?"

"An excellent question, we are here for you, Naruto-kun… we need your assistance in pursuing peace in the world."

Naruto raised his eyebrow, "Peace in the world? What skills do I have that would help you with this idea of peace?"

The Uchiha replied, "Not your skills, but a matter of what you hold."

The Heartless Angel's eyes narrowed at that, "You do realize that using that power of mine cannot be controlled except by me." Kisame smiled, showing the trademark Kiri style of shark-like teeth, "That is because we will be taking it out of you, so you would be helping for a greater cause.

"You do realize that it involves me dying, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, I prefer to live, thank you very much…so now if you will excuse me, we will be going now." Naruto replied coolly and tried to move around them until he took out First Tsurugi to block the strike from Kisame's Samehada.

"I guess we will be doing this the hard way." Naruto said with a sigh and grew serious by swinging his blade at Kisame along with a Blade Beam to send Kisame flying backwards a few feet. Tifa moved into a stance and Naruto warned his companion, "Tifa…the Uchiha has a bloodline called the Sharingan, it can copy any martial arts, illusions and ninjutsu, it can also hypnotize people into doing what they want to do…so focus on his feet or his waist to fight him."

Tifa nodded and moved to attack Itachi while Kisame flew through hand signs and stated with a manic grin, **"Suiton: Suikodan no Jutsu!"** Naruto stated in monotone and let loose another Blade Beam, slicing the water shark in half, but was surprised as Kisame came barreling through with Samehada raised high to crush him.

"Say goodbye to your wings, Angel!"

The Jinchuuriki moved out of the way and swung at Samehada, clashing with Kisame with a loud clang and the Uzumaki felt it, "Your sword…it absorbs chakra, am I correct?" Kisame spoke with a grin, "Oh, so you know about this sword?"

"Of course I do…actually I read up on the rest of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist after I fought Zabuza, your sword is Samehada, which is a sentient blade that absorbs chakra by contact as well as that it also acts like a shaver instead of a sword due to the scales."

"Very knowledgeable, but do you think that is going to help you?"

"No, not really, not when I am actually just stalling to get help..."

Soon Asuma came in from the air to attack Kisame while Kakashi and Kurenai threw kunai at Itachi, causing the Uchiha to move back to Kisame's position. "It looks like we will not be able to capture Naruto at this time, he is aware of our organization, it seems." Itachi said calmly, "Very well, then Naruto-kun, you win this round…but we will return for you and the Kyuubi inside you."

"The Bijuu are not yours to conquer and use like they are toys, they have emotions as well…as to your organization, they better watch out or else I will kill them without remorse." The Angel retorted strongly, the anger visible in his features.

Itachi and Kisame left, but the Jonin pursued them until Itachi's eyes morphed from the usual three comma marks into a three-bladed shuriken, **"Amaterasu."** Black fire sprang out of thin air and covered the back of the Akatsuki members, cutting off the pursuit of the Konoha Jonin.

"Damn it…they got away." Asuma cursed under his breath as he put his knuckle blades away. Kakashi replied, "We will get them another time…more importantly." He turned to Naruto and Tifa, "I would like to know who Naruto's companion is and how is he in contact with the Kyuubi."

"I have been in contact with the Bijuu sealed inside of me for several years now, Kakashi-sensei and as for my companion, this is Tifa Lockhart…she was the one that taught me her fighting style and she is somewhat of a traveler."

The son of the White Fang looked over at the brunette and said, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Tifa-san…" The martial artist bowed to Kakashi and replied, "Likewise, Kakashi-san…" Soon Jiraiya appeared next to Naruto and Tifa, "Well, it seems that you met the Akatsuki…a pleasant bunch, don't you think?"

The Jinchuuriki glanced at his perverted godfather, "Indeed…it looks like that they only come in pairs and their particular set of skills seems to subdue each Jinchuuriki." Jiraiya nodded, "It makes sense, Kisame's sword can absorb any chakra especially a Biju's and the Uchiha clan's Sharingan can exhibit some type of control over the Kyuubi."

The Sennin nodded, "It is exactly why we need to go now before they decide to come back to do the job…and bring your friend too please, I think she would cause too much attention to the wrong people here in Konoha."

"Understood…"

With that, the three of them left the village in search of the Slug Sennin; the race was on between them and Orochimaru's forces as well as the new players in the chess game, the Akatsuki. All of their motives were unclear…and it will take the Jinchuuriki at the center of the game.


End file.
